Jeff Koons - Balloon Animals (2017) & (2019)

Airy art: Jeff Koons' famous 'Balloon Animals' in two editions

Published in two editions, the "Balloon Animals" in both editions have the same shape and high-gloss look as their several-meter-high models, whose fame and desirability is beyond question. They come from the "Celebrations" series, which helped Koons achieve his international breakthrough in the mid-1990s. Since 2019, Jeff Koons can also call himself the most expensive living artist.

999 numbered copies of each of the two “Balloon Editions”, each with three animals, were produced. They differ only in their color scheme. While the swan, rabbit and monkey in the 2017 edition are yellow, red and blue, Koons colors them pink, purple and orange in the 2019 edition. When it comes to selecting the workshops that produce his chrome-plated porcelain sculptures in these editions, he is considered to be extremely perfectionist and demanding. Air-filled objects are what distinguish Koons as an artist. Their supposedly delicate and ephemeral plastic surface, which promises to collapse after just a few hours, is contrasted on a material level with chrome steel or porcelain, which promises permanence. A unique illusionism, even surrealism of a game with reality. This could be interpreted as a seemingly perfect yet ephemeral childhood memory.

The most important features of the artwork

About Jeff Koons

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Koons was already an artist as a child. He sold his first work of art at the age of 11 - and it would not be his last... After studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art (1972-1975) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1975/76), Koons initially worked on Wall Street in New York City as a broker on the financial market to make a living as an artist. He wanted to work independently of the influence of gallery owners and the art market, who in any case showed little interest in financing the dreams of a young, unknown up-and-coming artist.

In the 1980s, he began working in his own studio with his assistants. There he found himself in the midst of an emerging scene of young artists who wanted to break away from the prevailing simple, geometric and minimalist art. However, Koons was never as revolutionary as the "Pictures Generation" around Sherman, Longo or Prince. Instead of rebelling against advertising, newspapers and commerce, Koons was inspired by everyday banality.

He initially gained notoriety with a series of works in which he exhibited household appliances such as vacuum cleaners or polishing machines in Plexiglas display cases. The medium of sculpture, which helped Koons to achieve his current fame, already achieved a high priority in his work in the late 1980s. In addition, he used almost all available means of visual art, such as installations, painting or photography.

Initially intended only for a calendar, Koons' best-known series, the group of works "Celebrations", turned out to be his most complex project. It can be seen as a dedication to his then-newly born son - a homage to childlike nature. When he unexpectedly presented one of the centerpieces of the series, the balloon dog "Puppy", at the world-famous Documenta in Kassel in 1992, even though he himself had not been invited as an artist, he attracted widespread public attention.

During the “Celebrations” series, Koons also struggled with his perfectionism, as he rejected countless pieces that did not meet his standards. This even led to a planned solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York having to be cancelled.

"I always believe that my work is about expanding the possibilities of the viewer. So when you feel like you're in a heightened situation where there's an excitement, a physical excitement and an intellectual stimulation, you just have this feeling of expansion. Because that's where the art happens. Inside the viewer."