6-1 Short Answer

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1 6-1 Short Answer Erika Hiller Humanities 100-Q3301 Perspectives in the Humanities:23EW3 Professor Lindsey February 19, 2023

2 Jeff Koons is an artist that has created some of the most artistic pieces in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Koons went to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1976. Koons lives and works in New York City. He has influenced the fashion world through collaborations such as Louis Vuitton, Lady Gaga, and others. His works range from commercial art themes from popular culture, inflatables, balloon art, porcelain, statue, and many more. Jeff Koons emerged in the 1980s as an innovative sculptor of exquisitely crafted objects, quickly becoming an art history icon. One piece that implements that is his sculpture, Rabbit. Rabbit is one of Koons's statue pieces. This sculpture is stainless steel and measures 41 x 19 x 12 inches, 104.1 x 48.3 x 30.5 cm. In 1999 The Rabbit sold for $91.1 million at Christie's in New York. Koons has been the world's most expensive living artist. "Rabbit tells us that life is good, that all tastes are acceptable, that we should be at one with ourselves. Gleaming like some luxurious futuristic idol, it is a mirror not for princes, but for the public, reflecting us, incorporating us within the ever-shifting drama that plays out on its surface. We are all embraced by this totem" (n.a,2019). Whatever you see in Rabbit is by interpretation only. Koons decided this faceless quicksilver Rabbit manages to embody a whole range of messages while at the same time remaining expressionless and distant. Koons Rabbit asks the question, what culture means to you? Rabbit stands about waist high and is always placed on a pedestal when shown. Looking at Rabbit face to face, eye to eye, or shall I say I to I? It is no mistake Rabbit has a casting of stainless steel. Rabbit is nothing more than an

3 inflatable children's easter bunny, although Koons left out the eyes, whiskers, and mouth details. Thus, looking at the sculpture face to face makes you see a reflection of yourself. You gaze into the Rabbit looking back at you, which is your reflection. With his reflection artwork, Koons might be saying that art is a reflection of its surrounding culture. Koon’s Rabbit may be a part of our culture, like something you buy in a toy store or any national chain during the holidays. "Rabbit has no face itself, but there is my face, staring out at me. Is Koons asking me to face myself? To face the objects of my culture? To ask what difference and individuality consist of? Has Koons created a work of art that will be physically different for every person looking at it? Can that be art? Is Koons, by creating this outrageous thing, "in my face" (Holland, 2010). Your culture leads you to see the significance of the art you see. Everyone's interpretation of art is different. In the era of Koon's inflatable art, also known as his kitsch work, was that work all to deflect upon ourselves? On the contrary, was the work he was doing, all in gloss and stainless steel, to reflect upon ourselves and enlighten our cultural values and opinions? Koons expressed himself through paintings and sculptures, yet all had a mirror effect that could not have been for no reason. Koons wanted us to reflect on something within ourselves; what was it? "The reflective surface of the 'Rabbit' means that as we view the sculpture, we simultaneously view ourselves. It is, literally, a reflection of our own society. The 'Rabbit' becomes a statement of the deception present in society, acting as a social commentary and critique of our mainstream culture and its focus on the image" (Robertshaw, 2019). Koons wanted to express a lot when it came to Rabbit. Koons has a playful side to his artwork, yet he has a very sinister side to him as well. For example, Koons describes the carrot in Rabbit

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