{"data":{"id":"3310","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":3310,"topgoose_id":1848,"tms_id":3310,"display_name":"Jeff Koons","sort_name":"Koons Jeff","display_date":"1955–","begin_date":"1955","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eSince the early 1980s, Jeff Koons has tested\nthe boundaries between contemporary\nart and key aspects of American society,\nincluding marketing and the media,\nreligion and popular entertainment, and\ntechnological innovation. Koons emerged\namong the first generation of artists\nreared on television and pop culture,\ninfluences that led them to pointedly mine\nand analyze the gloss and fervent consumer\nculture associated with the Ronald Reagan\nera. His breakthrough series \u003cem\u003eThe New\u003c/em\u003e\nserves as a meditation on the obsession\nwith novelty that underpins both the\navant-garde and the market economy, each\nof which depends on fresh offerings to\nwhet appetites and drive sales.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn sculptures such as \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/7399\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew Hoover\nConvertibles Green, Blue, New Hoover\nConvertibles Green, Blue Doubledecker\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e,\nKoons presents the then latest-model\nvacuum cleaners as pristine, even virginal,\nsymbols of newness. He chose the\nappliance in part for its anthropomorphic\nair intake and because he felt it epitomized\nmiddle-class domesticity, whether\nthrough the image of his homemaker\nmother or of the “Hoover man” peddling\nproducts door-to-door. Befitting this\ninterest in salesmanship, Koons also plays\nwith conventions of display, which\nhe learned firsthand in his father’s home\ndecorating store. Artworks, like consumer\ngoods, often depend on lighting and\ncases to heighten their allure. By bathing\nthese humble vacuums in an otherworldly\nglow, Koons recaptures the ardent\ndesire and almost religious excitement that\nthe newest products—and artworks—\ncan inspire. Yet, almost paradoxically,\nthese perfectly preserved specimens have\ninevitably grown dated, suggesting\nthat the inexorable quest for the “new\nand improved” is inherently shadowed\nby obsolescence.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":null,"wikidata_id":"Q297525","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:39:57.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-12T07:02:20.559-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/3310/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/3310/exhibitions"}}}}