Hello, this is Masato Yamaguchi, a contemporary artist.
I'm working as an artist,
and researching other artists in a video.
Not only famous, top artists,
but also young artists are included.
My research is going to be uploaded on YouTube.
So, Andy Warhol is the first artist in my video.
Surrealism, Andre Breton, Marcel Duchamp were introduced so far.
And this time,
here!
Jeff Koons is today's topic!
He and his works are minor in Japan,
however he is one of the most famous artist in the world.
In 2019 May, this inflatable-toy like stainless sculpture
"Rabbit" was sold for $91.1 millions with fees.
The price is the most expensive for a work by a living artist.
The question is,
why this sculpture whose motif is a common inflatable rabbit
won $91.1 million ?
It's difficult to give a reasonable explanation.
Yes, it was a hot topic in the art market of course.
More importantly, there is a meaningful discussion on the Western art aspect.
Let me introduce the significance of this work.
Jeff Koons had his breakthrough
when he created a sculpture like a balloon toy.
Koons is well known as his  practice of
adopting a ”kitsch” thing as a "high" art.
This "Lobster", a stainless sculpture
inspired by a float clearly represents his style.
And this one as well.
The model is Michel Jackson.
It looks like a souvenir in your house.
A motif is always something common.
Here's your childhood favorite: "Hulk", a famous American comic character
comes as a living-scale stainless figurine.
It recalls me Mr.Takashi Murakami's huge anime girl figure
sold at a very expensive price became a big phenomena
more than a decade ago.
That phenomena is based on Koons's practice.
In this point,
Koons's practice is
the father of adopting kitschy things as a high art.
Koons's career opened its curtain with a series called "The New".
As a post-Duchamp,
a new Ready-Made series with a vacuum cleaner
was invented.
As I explained earlier,
Andy Warhol receives a high evaluation
because his practices are set
in the main stream of the Western art.
Similarly, Jeff Koons's works receives a high evaluation
because they shares the same context with Duchamp's.
Without understanding the history and background
including Duchamp's "Fountain"
these vacuums never be recognized as a Ready-Made art.
So, this program will be for people
who already watched my previous videos.
So please watch if you haven't.
Koons's works includes not only nice Ready-Mades.
He is such a genius of scandals.
Koons married Staller Anna Ilona,
known as "Cicciolina", a porn actress.
"Made in Heaven" series depicts
the couple's making-love scene.
This triggered a harsh criticize in the art world.
"Made in Heaven" actually threw him
into hell of bankruptcy.
All the staff employed at that time left him.
Well, this is just an additional talk.
Regretfully,  only a few of Japanese books
about Jeff Koons are available.
So I bought "Bijutsu Techo 2014".
And this translated book.
The number of Japanese books are very short.
Only an art magazine in 1990 focused on Koons.
Japanese art world could not recognize him and his works.
A man who made a piece
which won the most expensive price
could not stand in the spotlight
on the Japanese art scene.
The searching result in this online shop reveals
how much Japanese art industry is strange.
It's unsurprising that Koons's works like "Lobster"
is not understood in Japan
because there is a poor explanation about the context.
Again, without a comprehension of background,
his works such as "Lobster" and this hero made of stainless
it's almost impossible to receive a better evaluation.
Perhaps this Ready-Mades are unacceptable.
Let's look at this page from "Artpedia",
a familiar site for us.
A biography of Jeff Koons.
Jeff Koons, an American artist, was born in 1955
famous for his mirror-finished stainless sculptures
like a ballon toy.
Known as a representative artist of Simulationism movement.
Noi Sawaragi's "Simulationism"
It is rare to see a trustworthy book
about Surrealism like this one.
People can't understand the art in the 21th century
unless they learn "Simulationism"
or the most significant movement in the 80s.
However a reliable source to learn the context
is very minor in this country.
I'm concerning with the present situation.
Although I bought this book several times,
Jeff Koons is seldom explained.
Nonetheless,
this is a great book which introduces Simulationists in detail.
This is my recommendation.
In fact, Jeff Koons is a Simulationist.
Let's back to the biography.
Simulationism is the art of simulation,
a practice to seek the art
through representing something.
For example,
these sculptures like inflated toys are simulations.
As he made this, he took a cast of a balloon toy
and made into a stainless sculpture.
This is a representation,
and simulation is the practice of representation itself.
In other words,
the value of art can exists
only when somebody represents something.
It doesn't have its own value.
I'd like to have some time to spare for simulation.
Andy Warhol was an artists in the opening period of simulation
because he represented something already exists
including a soup can.
A simulationist after Warhol went further
to denying artist himself.
Here's giving some examples of "sampling".
Mike Bidlo a writer simulated Warhol's and Picasso's works
titling "NOT WARHOL" or "NOT PICASSO"
"NOT KANDINSKY" "NOT POLLOCK" "NOT DUCHAMP"
Mike Bidlo sticked to the reproductivity art
to eliminate himself.
He is very unique.
And this kind of practice is called simulation.
Richard Prince reproduces a magazine.
Like this.
He is a photographer
who reproduces a photograph in a magazine
and claims that it's his work.
Recently,
plagiarize a picture from Instagram was controversial.
Prince was accused.
Removing artist himself became a main stream
since Duchamp
and reached its peak with Simulationism.
Jeff Koons is among Simulationists.
We have a lot to explain yet!
Koons expressed  kitsch in the American art,
and highly respected Dali
and visited him at St. Regis Hotel in NY several times.
Since then he started to learn art
while working as an assistant at a studio.
In 1980, he got licensed to sell mutual funds and stocks,
and became a Wall Street commodities broker at First Investors Corporation.
Yes, this image as a skillful businessman in suits is very impressive.
A good money game player.
In 85, "Equilibrium Series" was born.
Three basket balls are floating in an equilibrium tank.
He did a conceptual art in the beginning of his career.
Today 90-120 regular assistants are working
at Koons's studio of 1500m².
Probably inspired by Warhol's "Factory".
Mr.Murakami has more assistants, I think.
Installing "Number color system" enables him
to conduct staff to work with paintings and sculptures
at a certain numbered space.
It's totally a factory.
Koons favors something involve air.
For example these basket balls in the tank involve air,
and these rabbit and flowers made in his early days are
inflated toys-not stainless.
It's Ready-Made.
"The New" series is a Ready-Made too
with an automatic cooker
and fluorescent lights
which expresses the mass-consumption society.
The typical image of capitalism
"Consumers are marketing products"
is shown by this work.
This is the Equilibrium series.
After that this famous stainless sculpture was created,
"Made in Heaven" with his wife came.
"Puppy Series", a huge dog statue with flowers.
The range of genre is very wide.
He did some paintings too.
Like Warhol's, Koons made "Hulk Elvis series".
and a poster of Bacardi's painted on a canvas
as one of the "Luxury&Degradation Series".
There are some Surrealistic, Dali-like pictures too.
Jeffrey Deitch, a dealer who supported Koons,
claimed that Koons's works are the essence of paintings.
Jeff Koons is still powerfully keeping his activity
and working with new series today.
I am working with abstract paintings
by using a cleaner robot and a drone.
Simulationism in the the Western art
greatly impact on my works.
The question "what am I?" is a very significant in the art.
In this world of the capitalism and the mass consumption,
our life is rich with a full of products and physical things.
For example, except some certain area like the South Africa,
a death of starvation is a minor problem
in a developed country such as Japan and the US.
On the other hand however,
the existence value is getting poorer and poorer.
Behind the Simulation,
the existence value and identity of an artist is the slightest.
Art and music in the 80s expressed this point.
When he was asked
"What is your important experience"
"from your career as an assistant?",
Koons replied thus; "The significant event in my artist life is"
"the meeting with Dada, Surrealism,"
"the shifting from the subjective view to the objective view,"
"and Pop art. They opened my eyes."
In my opinion, this is the essential idea.
Let me back to the searching result at the online store.
Surrealism is the peak of the Western art
which has seen a rapid change.
Surrealism was on the throne of the subjective aspect
while Dadaism was more anarchy.
Surrealism, Dada, and Neo Dada were fashion in the US.
And Japanese art is strongly influenced.
However these old styles had to leave
because the art keeps changing.
It is the journey towards the Pop art that Jeff Koons states as
"the shifting from the subjective view to the objective view"
The pop art doesn't come from an artist's own view
but comes from the mass,
as "Pop" stands for "Popular" of course.
Like Andy Warhol did,
art as the practice of objective aspect goes further.
Jeff Koons's works are called "Neo-Pop" also.
"Neo-Pop"  refers his extreme elimination of the subjective aspect
In Japan, the Pop sense blooms especially in the design and music industry.
Nevertheless,
Pop art matured in the cradle of the American art world
which saw the shifting of aspect
could not firmly root on the ground of Japanese art world at all.
It was not until 2010 when Mr.Murakami released his art works
that Japanese art industry finally started to understand
Until then, the nature of Pop art,
the objective art has never been developed in Japanese contemporary art.
Without understanding Jeff Koons,
the true comprehension of art in the 21th century never be gained.
So, the question "why this balloon-like sculpture is $91?"
will be a simple start line towards the true understanding.
Actually the quality of his stylish works
which many assistants are involved in is very high.
A great attention is paid to the detail
while a product is very easy to understand and pop.
I am really look forward to his next idea.
If you are interested in,
please watch "The Price of Everything"
in which Koons appears.
So, thank you for watching.
So far, we have discussed Andy Warhol,
Andre Breton, Marcel Duchamp,
and finally we came to Jeff Koons.
Next time, I'd like to talk about KAWS, Takashi Murakami, Masaki,
and other top artists.
Here's KAWS.
And Madsaki.
Again, to understand these new stars,
learning the previous artists is necessary.
Then you can enjoy the contemporary art more.
Thank you for watching.
In my video,
I introduce and research many artists in a casual way.
Also, my activities including making scenes will be uploaded too!
Please subscribe if you’d like.
This video was brought by Masato Yamaguchi, a contemporary artist.
