Jeff Koons b.1955
One of the most famous artists working today, Jeff Koons makes gleeful, tongue-in-cheek sculptures, paintings, and installations that border—and often cross—the edge of good taste. Exploring ideas of commodity, spectacle, celebrity, and consumption, Koons has made monumental balloon dogs, a series about his lusty relationship with Italian porn star, cast-aluminum pool toys, a gold-painted porcelain sculpture of Michael Jackson, and a giant sculpture that resembles both Play-Doh and a heap of dung. Though the artist resists complex interpretations of his work, Koons’s innovative fabrication processes have elevated him far above the designation of simple provocateur.