Spotlight - Jeff Koons

Monkey (Blue)
by Jeff Koons, 1999

Crystal glass, mirrored glass, carbon fiber, foam, coloured plastic interlayer and stainless steel
60″w x 71.4″h x 1.5″d
From an edition of 4 unique pieces.

Click the play icon to listen to this part of the tour or read the accompanying text below.

Business tycoon turned contemporary artist Jeff Koons takes the method of appropriation, which is central to the Pop Art genre, to the next level. His predecessor, Andy Warhol, elevated common objects, such as the under-the-sink Brillo box to the status of fine art in 1964.

Warhol’s accurate replication of commercial packaging may have been a creative decision inspired by Dadaist Marcel Duchamp who polished the common urinal and placed it on a plinth or pedestal, thus challenging ideas of value and material prestige, and that was in 1920.

For Jeff Koons, he chose the common balloon shaped in the form of a dog often rendered by clowns and replicated it into precious metals and materials. Several maquettes (or smaller versions) can be found in the hotel’s art collection. Artworks like these may conjure happy childhood memories or at least a sense of playfulness.

To similar effect, Koon’s “Monkey (Blue)” functions the same, echoing shapes that we may feel familiar with or even remind us of other animated characters from our childhood, while adding to the peaceful atmosphere of the hotel’s lobby.

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