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Jeff Koons: Hulk Elvis
The definitive survey of Jeff Koons’s Hulk Elvis paintings, including an extensive interview with the artist in his studio.
From the outset of his controversial career, Jeff Koons turned the traditional notion of the work of art and its context inside out. Focusing on unexpected yet banal objects as models for his work, he eschewed typical standards of "good taste" in art, instead embracing what he perceives as conventional middle-class values in order to expose the vulnerabilities of aesthetic hierarchies and value systems. Koons’s declared strategies are to make art beautiful, to strive for objectivity, to give back the familiar, and to reflect, and thus empower, the viewer. The works of Koons’s series Hulk Elvis burst with energy and precision yet mystify with their complex permutations and combinations of figurative and abstract elements. A charged mix of inflatable monkeys, geishas, birds, the Incredible Hulk, and the Liberty Bell jostle against realistically rendered landscapes, gestural paintings, steam engines and horse-drawn carriages, negative silhouettes, and underlying dot screens.
From the outset of his controversial career, Jeff Koons turned the traditional notion of the work of art and its context inside out. Focusing on unexpected yet banal objects as models for his work, he eschewed typical standards of "good taste" in art, instead embracing what he perceives as conventional middle-class values in order to expose the vulnerabilities of aesthetic hierarchies and value systems. Koons’s declared strategies are to make art beautiful, to strive for objectivity, to give back the familiar, and to reflect, and thus empower, the viewer. The works of Koons’s series Hulk Elvis burst with energy and precision yet mystify with their complex permutations and combinations of figurative and abstract elements. A charged mix of inflatable monkeys, geishas, birds, the Incredible Hulk, and the Liberty Bell jostle against realistically rendered landscapes, gestural paintings, steam engines and horse-drawn carriages, negative silhouettes, and underlying dot screens.
- GenresArt
140 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 19, 2010
There is perhaps no other artist that engenders such diametrically opposed reactions in the art world as Jeff Koons. It’s no secret that his larger than life reproductions of everyday objects inspire some while often disturbing others. Koons’ flair for serious kitsch combined with what some regard as a self-aggrandising attitude have put him at the center of controversy in the art world for the last two decades.
His latest work, ‘Hulk Elvis,’ scales back the ambition slightly (no 45 foot topiary sculptures in this volume) to showcase an exhibit from his show of the same name at London’s Gagosian Gallery in 2007. The large format, 140 page book features images of the Incredible Hulk, the Liberty Bell, an inflatable monkey and even a distortion of Led Zeppelin photograph.
Koons’ eye-popping images are a layered combination of photo montages, photoshop color halftone backgrounds and metallic silver paints (properly reproduced here with a fifth-color layer of metallic ink) to create images that jump off the page with animated energy. Commentary on Koons work is provided by Artforum’s Scott Rothkopf (much of which oddly centers around Jeff Koons’ October 2008 exhibition at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, Celebration.) The book also features an interview with Koons by longtime curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
There is also a collectable, autographed, first-edition that sells for about $500 when you can find it online.
His latest work, ‘Hulk Elvis,’ scales back the ambition slightly (no 45 foot topiary sculptures in this volume) to showcase an exhibit from his show of the same name at London’s Gagosian Gallery in 2007. The large format, 140 page book features images of the Incredible Hulk, the Liberty Bell, an inflatable monkey and even a distortion of Led Zeppelin photograph.
Koons’ eye-popping images are a layered combination of photo montages, photoshop color halftone backgrounds and metallic silver paints (properly reproduced here with a fifth-color layer of metallic ink) to create images that jump off the page with animated energy. Commentary on Koons work is provided by Artforum’s Scott Rothkopf (much of which oddly centers around Jeff Koons’ October 2008 exhibition at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, Celebration.) The book also features an interview with Koons by longtime curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
There is also a collectable, autographed, first-edition that sells for about $500 when you can find it online.
July 26, 2010
There is perhaps no other artist that engenders such diametrically opposed reactions in the art world as Jeff Koons. It’s no secret that his larger than life reproductions of everyday objects inspire some while often disturbing others. Koons’ flair for serious kitsch combined with what some regard as a self-aggrandising attitude have put him at the center of controversy in the art world for the last two decades.
His latest work, ‘Hulk Elvis,’ scales back the ambition slightly (no 45 foot topiary sculptures in this volume) to showcase an exhibit from his show of the same name at London’s Gagosian Gallery in 2007. The large format, 140 page book features images of the Incredible Hulk, the Liberty Bell, an inflatable monkey and even a distortion of Led Zeppelin photograph.
Koons’ eye-popping images are a layered combination of photo montages, photoshop color halftone backgrounds and metallic silver paints (properly reproduced here with a fifth-color layer of metallic ink) to create images that jump off the page with animated energy. Commentary on Koons work is provided by Artforum’s Scott Rothkopf (much of which oddly centers around Jeff Koons’ October 2008 exhibition at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, Celebration.) The book also features an interview with Koons by longtime curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
There is also a collectable, autographed, first-edition that sells for about $500 when you can find it online.
His latest work, ‘Hulk Elvis,’ scales back the ambition slightly (no 45 foot topiary sculptures in this volume) to showcase an exhibit from his show of the same name at London’s Gagosian Gallery in 2007. The large format, 140 page book features images of the Incredible Hulk, the Liberty Bell, an inflatable monkey and even a distortion of Led Zeppelin photograph.
Koons’ eye-popping images are a layered combination of photo montages, photoshop color halftone backgrounds and metallic silver paints (properly reproduced here with a fifth-color layer of metallic ink) to create images that jump off the page with animated energy. Commentary on Koons work is provided by Artforum’s Scott Rothkopf (much of which oddly centers around Jeff Koons’ October 2008 exhibition at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, Celebration.) The book also features an interview with Koons by longtime curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
There is also a collectable, autographed, first-edition that sells for about $500 when you can find it online.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews