Hoffman Barbara Catch Kitschy and Kinky Art at Jeff Koons New Retrospective New York Post June 2014
Jeff Koons's New Line
The artist'south latest project: a metaphysical meditation on the eternal in the form of bags. His collaborator is Louis Vuitton.
Jeff Koons, who is collaborating with Louis Vuitton, in his studio on West 29th Street in Manhattan. Credit... Isak Tiner for The New York Times
"They touch on the metaphysical: the right here correct now and its connection to the by and the hereafter. They're about shine, the basics of philosophy, passion, what information technology means to be a human, what information technology means to be an animal, the idea of transcendence."
That was Jeff Koons, genius or adventurer, depending on whom you talk to — an artist known for elevating children's toys and vacuum cleaners to the stature of the Greek gods, sitting in the part expanse of his 35,000-square-foot studio meditating on his latest project: a multifaceted serial he has been working on under conditions of the utmost secrecy for well over a year, entitled "Masters."
At present, on the verge of the unveiling, Mr. Koons was sparkling of eye, beatific of mien and bountiful of reference. "Working on this, I felt a sense of my own potential, and the sharing of that with a large community," he said happily.
What was this wormhole to the eternal?
Another enormous public sculpture, like "Split Rocker," the 37-foot-loftier flower-covered rocking horse bust that had pride of place in Rockefeller Center in 2014? A museum retrospective, similar the career-defining show at the Whitney the aforementioned twelvemonth?
Broaden your minds, people! A new line of handbags.
As well scarves, key chains and small leather goods, including wallets and laptop sleeves — 51 pieces in all — washed in collaboration with the French luxury house Louis Vuitton. Though Mr. Koons has flirted with fashion before, working on one-off collections with Stella McCartney and H&M, this is the showtime time he has created an original pattern for a make, as opposed to simply plunking a reproduction of his work onto a product or remaking a sculpture every bit a necklace.
Inspired by Mr. Koons'south "Gazing Ball" series of paintings from 2015, which featured exacting reproductions of various masterworks (Manet'due south "Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe," Monet'south "Water Lilies," Klimt's "The Kiss") with blue reflective spheres normally used as backyard ornaments affixed on top and refracting the viewer, the collection comprises five of the most famous paintings in history, including the "Mona Lisa," Van Gogh'southward "Wheat Field With Cypresses" and Rubens's "The Tiger Hunt," all of which have been reproduced in high-definition detail on some of Vuitton's near classic leather bags.
Epitome
In identify of a gazing ball, each bag has been adorned with highly reflective gold or silver letters spelling the artist's name on the outside similar a giant piece of hip-hop jewelry. The bottom edge features Mr. Koons's initials — or logo — in ane corner and Vuitton's logo on the other. The leather loop around the handle that usually secretes a lock or an identification tag has been recut to resemble the Koons airship bunny.
"Information technology's a ménage à trois!" said Michael Shush, the chief executive of Vuitton.
That makes the drove sound kind of kinky, but at first glance, despite the buildup, it looks like nada so much as a bunch of souvenir bags from a museum shop, all remade as luxury accessories. Which in turn tends to elicit the reaction (non uncommon at showtime sight of Mr. Koons's piece of work): "Yous've got to be kidding."
Though, of course, they are not. At all.
History With High Civilisation
"I retrieve we're going to go some pushback," Mr. Burke said. "People are going to be upset about the sacred inbound the realm of the profane. But we like to do things that can be perceived as politically wrong. If nosotros are getting flak, we recollect we are doing something correct."
Besides, getting cozy with loftier culture is not exactly new territory for Louis Vuitton.
The brand has a long history of art world association, from the major exhibitions it underwrote in the 1990s, causing some uproar ("Art is the domain of the minister of culture, not commerce," Mr. Shush said, somewhat sarcastically), to the various artist collaborations the former designer Marc Jacobs instigated with Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Stephen Sprouse. The company's mode shows long took place in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, and concluding month Vuitton became the first fashion house to have a show in the museum's sculpture cour. In 2014, the company opened the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which houses the LVMH collection (including piece of work by Mr. Koons) as well as temporary exhibitions.
Though Nicolas Ghesquière, the label's creative director of women'south clothing, who succeeded Mr. Jacobs in 2013, also has an affinity for art, he was not involved in the Koons collaboration, which came almost through Delphine Arnault, the daughter of the LVMH chief Bernard Arnault. Mr. Koons said he had known the Arnaults for "about ii decades," since they began collecting his work. In 2013, he created a limited-edition "Balloon Venus" sculpture to house a special edition of Dom Pérignon, another LVMH brand. Co-ordinate to Mr. Burke, Mr. Koons'south proper noun kept coming up in "what side by side" discussions., The Arnaults invited him to lunch, and a few meetings later, the specifics were agreed upon.
"I idea maybe they wanted me to practise a picket," Mr. Koons said. "But then they asked about working on the bags, and I thought it could be wonderful. I take several women in my life." He has viii children, including two daughters, one with his current married woman, Justine, and one from an earlier relationship. He saw the project as a way to broaden the audience for his work in a meaningful style.
Epitome
"It'southward a great platform for communication!" he said. (He tends to speak either with keen enthusiasm or in slightly medicated, wondrous paragraphs.) "I tin put my piece of work on the street!"
When it was pointed out that given the prices for the collection, which range from $585 for a fundamental chain to $4,000 for the large carryall, with most hovering between $1,000 and $iii,000, it wasn't exactly every person gear, he said, "Well, they tin can walk past the windows of Louis Vuitton and relish them."
(Besides, everything is relative. Mr. Koons has the record for price at auction for a piece of work by a living artist: $58.4 million in 2013 for "Airship Dog (Orange)." Compared with that, a haversack at $3,200 is a deal.)
"I hope people understand my ideas," Mr. Koons said. "I hope they encompass them as a continuation of my effort to erase the bureaucracy fastened to fine art and old masters."
This is part of his mission statement equally an artist: He wants to eradicate the elitism of the art world. He says he doesn't run into any distinction between the numberless and his art because his definition of art is something that "connects in a profound way to the universal, and when it is nigh focusing on interests or information, information technology automatically achieves that." And these numberless, which are all about paintings that have deep significant for Mr. Koons, qualify (he said he visited Fragonard'southward "Girl With a Domestic dog," some other painting in the Vuitton drove, "at to the lowest degree once a twelvemonth").
Larry Gagosian, one of Mr. Koons's gallerists, thinks the Vuitton collaboration makes perfect sense in the arc of his career. "Jeff is one of the few artists who can step into that h2o without screwing upwardly his day job," he said. "It'southward not the kind of thing Mark Rothko would do, but arguably Andy Warhol paved the way for this, and Jeff has been inspired past the case of Warhol to a degree.
Image
"Some people volition probably think it's also commercial, that serious artists shouldn't brand handbags. But I likewise think a lot of people volition really dig them. They are extremely marketable."
Mr. Burke added: "People are going to think, 'How dare they?' But that'southward practiced, because and so you accept to call back, 'Why exercise I remember that?'"
A Project'due south Subnarrative
The issue here is non exactly a mystery. On i hand, Vuitton is exploiting art for its own gain. On the other, an artist is selling out. In the middle, consumers are being introduced to cracking art as if information technology is disposable.
In role to counter this, Vuitton and Mr. Koons accept added a subnarrative to the project that spins it as an try to address the falling profile of classical art — a borough service, if you will. Inside each bag, for case, is a footling description of the creative person, like a hidden history lesson for the Twitter generation.
And they have the support of the museums. They didn't need them — the fine art is all in the public domain — just they wanted the best quality photographs to piece of work from, which meant using high-resolution shots that the institutions keep for their records. Jean-Luc Martinez, the managing director of the Louvre, was on board very quickly. "I totally agree with this project," he said.
None of his peers refused. "They immediately got that for classical art to compete with contemporary art, you lot need to get it on the street," Mr. Burke said. "They all said, 'We want these artists to be better known.'" At recent auctions contemporary art sold better than former masters.
Mr. Gagosian said, "The more than people who await at great art, the better for our civilization."
Even, evidently, if the art is around the grade of a tote bag, where because of the museums' cooperation, the representation allows the possessor to get "closer to the paintings than they can in the museum," Mr. Burke said.
"We have even replicated the cracks in the canvas," he continued.
According to Mr. Burke, when the poker-faced Mr. Arnault saw the finished production, "he had a big smile, which is a lot of reaction from him."
Mr. Gagosian said that he had the same feeling, and that he was specially interested in the Mona Lisas. Mr. Burke said he started giggling.
The drove finally met the public in Paris on Tuesday evening at a starry dinner at the Louvre. Mr. Koons was there. (He has become a convert to Louis Vuitton suiting, at least for formal occasions. For working, he tends to navy Theory shirts, navy Joe's Jeans and sneakers; he seems to have a affair nearly blue.) So were Catherine Deneuve and Michelle Williams. Alicia Vikander wasn't, though she will be the face of the collaboration.
"She has a Mona Lisa-ish quality, no?" Mr. Burke asked.
The bags won't exist sold online. They will be offered only in certain Vuitton stores and a special pop-up store opening in New York later this month. Mr. Burke is preparing himself for some fallout. He is besides preparing for a possible second line.
"Well, there are over 40 artists in the Gazing Ball series," he said. "At that place'due south lots of opportunity in that location."
Mr. Koons said, "I can't expect to see the numberless in the real world," adding that he would probably commencement to carry the Rubens Keepall, a duffel-similar bag, instead of the basic black shoulder bag he now uses. He said he was excited "to find out what people volition choose, and what clothes they will wearable with the bags, what type of presentation of themselves they will brandish." The whole experience, he noted, "made me want to brand more things that are attainable to people."
It's a good line. The question is: Will anyone buy information technology?
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/fashion/jeff-koons-louis-vuitton-masters-collection.html
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