JEFF KOONS

I'm currently reading a book 'Interviews with American Artists' by David Sylvester - and it is giving me an insight into the workings and inspirations of artists including: Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson and Jeff Koons.

I've not really known much about Jeff Koons as an artist, and not really understood his work, but always remember it, because it is colourful, loud, and surreal. Shooting to fame in the 80s, his straight-faced celebration of kitsch culture earned him global notoriety.

In this book he talks of his works the in the 'Easyfun' series. Cut Out, Loopy and Hair were part of this 1999 collection of paintings.

Intricate in design and unreservedly optimistic, the ‘Easyfun’ paintings marked Jeff Koons’ return to exhibiting after several years of closely guarded activity in his studio. The paintings that these editions are based on are so large and complicated that Koons required a team of 40 assistants to complete them.



Cut-Out
oil on canvas
277.6 x 201.3 cm

Koons said of the above paitning that "There was an image that I saw, which was of a cut-out. Like if you go to an amusement park or a fair, there might be a board that's painted - maybe it's an astronaut - and you put your head through a cutout in the plywood, and then you're the astronaut."
"There's Mount Rushmore in the back of Cut-out, that's kind of saying, 'If you want to grow up to be President..."