Jeff KOONS (1955) X SUPREME - Lot 29

Jeff KOONS (1955) X SUPREME Monkey train. Screen-printed skateboard. 79 X 20 cm. The undisputed master of the art market, Jeff Koons is no less than the world's most expensive living artist. Born in York, USA, in 1955, he is renowned for his giant sculptures and paintings, as well as his talent for provocation. He studied at the Baltimore School of Fine Arts in Chicago, but began his career in finance as a Wall Street commodities broker. Jeff Koons managed to combine his talents in the stock market with his passion for art, becoming the best investment of the 20th century. Jeff Koons was particularly influenced by the advertising iconography and American pop art of the 1980s. In his hands, consumer objects and everyday utensils gained in value. He took up Marcel Duchamp's "ready made" principle and elevated them to the status of works of art, starting with vacuum cleaners and basketballs. Particularly fond of kitsch, Jeff Koons exploited this vein to the hilt, winning over collectors the world over. He uses popular culture icons from the USA to add to his aesthetic. Michael Jackson freezes in white and gold porcelain, Popeye glistens like a stainless steel balloon and the Hulk inflates with air in anger. Both Jeff Koons' fame and his work took a turn for the worse in 1991, when the artist married pornographic actress Ilona Anna Staller, also known as Cicciolina. Together, they produced the sultry "Made In Heaven", in which the couple play with eroticism and ambiguity. It was an unqualified media success, boosting Jeff Koons' reputation and standing. His works are now produced by craftsmen in a workshop in Chelsea, near New York, under his direction, a process which in turn has made the artist the talk of the town. In addition to being a favorite of billionaires, Jeff Koons is also exhibited around the world. His royal entrance at the Château de Versailles in 2008, accompanied by his Balloon Dogs and Inflatable Rabbit, will be remembered, as will his retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2014. His work Rabbit was auctioned in 2019 by Christie's in New York for $91 million. This historic sale made the sculpture the most expensive work by a living artist.