Commodities and Consumerism

Jeff Koons, New Shelton Wet/Dry Tripledecker, 1981. Three vacuum cleaners, acrylic, fluorescent lights. 124 1∕2 x 28 x 28" Des Moines Art Center.

Jeff Koons, Jim Beam —J.B. Turner Train, 1986. Stainless steel, bourbon. 11 x 114 x 6 1∕2"

Jeff Koons, Puppy, Rockefeller Center, June, 2000, New York City. The Rockefeller Center

version stood 43-feet tall and was made of 70, 000 fresh flowers. A stainless steel armature holds over

25 tons of soil watered by an internal irrigation system. Koons originally built Puppy for the

Documenta in Kassel 1992. It is in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao

Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog (Magenta), 1994–2000. Shown at the “Jeff Koons Versailles” exhibition at the Château de Versailles, October 9, 2008–April 1, 2009. Mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating, 121 x 143 x 45"

Among the 17 pieces on display at Versailles, Koon’s bust of Louis XIV sculpted from a "proletariat material"(stainless steel), sparked the most outrage. (below, right) Jeff Koons, Louis XIV, 1986, stainless steel, American Pop Baroque?

Jeff Koons, Rabbit, 1986, Stainless steel, 41 x 19 x 12 in

Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, porcelain, 1986, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Haim Steinbach, supremely black, 1985. Plastic-laminated wood shelf; ceramic pitchers; cardboard detergent boxes, 29 x 66 x 13"

Ashley Bickerton, Tormented Self-Portrait (Susie at Arles), 1987–88. Synthetic polymer paint, bronze powder and lacquer on wood, anodized aluminum, rubber, plastic, formica, leather, chrome-plated, steel and canvas, 89 3∕8 x 68 3∕4 x 15 3∕4." Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Mike Kelley, The Wages of Sin and More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid, 1987. Stuffed fabric toys and afghans on canvas with dried corn; wax candles on wood and metal base, 90 x 119 1∕4 x 5" overall plus candles and base. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Mike Kelley, Educational Complex, 1995. Installation at Metro Pictures Gallery, New York, 1995. Synthetic polymer, latex, foam core, fiberglass, and wood, 57 3∕4 x 192 3∕16 x 96 1∕8," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Mike Kelley, Shy Satanist (Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #19), 2004–05. From the project Day is Done. Mixed media with video projection and photograph(s), one of 30-plus installations inflected by three hours of projected-video thought bubbles. Ritual tableaux of psychic turmoil and repressed trauma, derived from mundane high school yearbook photos of extracurricular activities: homemade stations of the cross.

Rosemarie Trockel (German, b. 1952) Untitled, 1985, blanket of knit wool two parts, total 78 3∕4 x 125 7∕8"

Rosemarie Trockel, Balaclava, 1986, knit wool on styropor and metal shelf, ca. 13 3∕4 x 51 1∕8 x 7 7∕8”

Farhad Moshiri (Iranian, b. 1963) Cradle of Happiness, 2004Life-size installation of gold-leaved mixed materials

“There’s always been an element in my work that’s self-ridiculing. I play with the idea of marketing and commodification, and this feeds my practice. After all, the idea of making work that is about the packaging of art has been there since pop art.”

Farhad Moshiri 

Farhad Moshiri, Eshgh (Love), 2007. Acrylic, Swarovski crystals and glitter on canvas on board, 61 x 69 1∕4"