From kinky to kitsch to conceptual, Jeff Koons’ art is anything but conformist. Since he stirred up the art world establishment in the 1980s with his unapologetic basketball sculptures and stainless steel toy blow-ups, Koons has been known as somewhat of a bad boy—a reputation he confirmed in the early 1990s via works depicting him having sex with then-wife Cicciolina, the Italian porn star-cum-politician. But at the same time he charmed the art world with Puppy, a 40-foot tall floral terrier that now resides at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Koons’ exploitation of the banal, in the aggrandizement and/or embodiment of kitsch and pop imagery, has become his trademark; detractors may delight in their naysaying, but Koons’ work commands millions at auction and his position at the forefront of contemporary art is indisputable.
