Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania.His works have sold for substantial sums of money, including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. On November 12, 2013, Koons’s Balloon Dog (Orange) sold at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York City for $58.4 million, above its high $55 million estimate, becoming the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction. The price topped Koons’s previous record of $33.7 million and the record for the most expensive living artist, held by Gerhard Richter, whose 1968 painting, Domplatz, Mailand, sold for $37.1 million at Sotheby’s on May 14, 2013. Balloon Dog (Orange) was one of the first of the Balloon Dogs to be fabricated, and had been acquired by Greenwich collector Peter Brant in the late 1990s.Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works, nor any critiques.
As a young artist I wanted to be engaged in the excitement of making art and sharing ideas. And that hasn't changed - that's what the art world represents to me.
Has three sons with his second wife Justine: Sean Kyah, Kurt and Blake.
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His best known works include "Puppy", a 43 foot sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier installed outside the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, and "Balloon Dog", balloons twisted into shape to make a toy dog.
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After college, he worked as a Wall Street broker for a while.
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Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
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His 1991 performance art series "Made in Heaven" featured sexually explicit photographs and sculptures of himself and ex-wife Ilona Staller. Their son, Ludwig Maximilian (born 29 October 1992), has been the object of a bitter international custody battle.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Milk
2008/I
Art Agnos
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
2009
acknowledgment: copyright owner, 'Balloon Dog [Red]', 1994-2000
Real Sex
1992
TV Series documentary thanks - 1 episode
Maniac Nurses
1990
dedicated to - as Jeff Koonz
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists
2014
Documentary
Contemporary Artist
Jeff, Embrace Your Past
2014
Short
Himself - The Artist
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
TV Series
Himself - Artist
The Colbert Report
2012
TV Series
Himself - Guest
60 Minutes
2011
TV Series documentary
Himself - Artist (segment "The Billionaire")
Art in the Twenty-First Century
2009
TV Series documentary
Der radikale Gärtner - Grenzgänge in Kunst und Werbung