Product Description

The Post-Pop superstar: An in-depth study of Koons's entire oeuvre to date.

Limited to 1,500 numbered copies, each signed by Jeff Koons

From kinky to kitsch to conceptual, Jeff Koons's art is anything but conformist. Since he stirred up the art world establishment in the 1980s with his unapologetic basketball sculptures and stainless steel toy blow-ups, Koons has been known as somewhat of a bad boy--a reputation he confirmed in the early 90s via works depicting him having sex with then-wife Cicciolina, the Italian porn star-cum-politician. Following this torrid phase, he changed gears to produce the gargantuan Puppy, the 43-foot tall floral terrier that now resides at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Koons's exploitation of the banal, in the aggrandizement and/or embodiment of kitsch and pop imagery, has become his trademark; detractors may delight in their naysaying, but Koons's work commands millions at auction and his position at the forefront of contemporary art is indisputable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1539916 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-02
• Original language: English, German, French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 606 pages

Language Notes
Text: English, German, French

From the Publisher
This exhaustive monograph begins with a biographical essay by Interview magazine editor-in-chief Ingrid Sischy that puts his work into context and tells his personal story, as well as a text by Eckhard Schneider's analyzing Koons from a European perspective. Arranged in chronological chapters by work groups, the main body of the book features art historian and critic Katy Siegel's detailed analyses alongside hundreds of large-format images tracing Koons's career from 1979 to today. Rounding off the book are an extended bibliography and a lavishly illustrated biography. Fans of Jeff Koons's work will find in this publication not only a sumptuous book-object, but also the most comprehensive study of the artist's work ever published.

From the Author
Book designer and editor Hans Werner Holzwarth studied photography and communication design, then co-led his own company for corporate design. He worked as a freelance art director for Scalo before founding his own imprint in 2000 Holzwarth Publications, which was created with the goal of publishing artists' books to further enhance the expression of their work. Holzwarth has collaborated with artists such as Richard Billingham, Larry Clark, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Rebecca Horn, Roni Horn, Karl Lagerfeld, Boris Mikhailov, Issey Miyake, Albert Oehlen, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Kiki Smith, Jock Sturges, Juergen Teller, Jeff Wall, John Waters, and Christopher Wool. For TASCHEN he also designed the books Taschen Collection and Martin Kippenberger.

Customer Reviews

overrated and not at all worth the price
Taschen books - especially limited books - are usually worth every penny. But Koons is different. Made for speculation reasons only, this book is not bought for the content. Because there is nothing new about Koons in this book, that we don't know already. It would have been good enough to create a XL-book like Michelangelo, Leonardo or Rivera for round about 120 dollars. I was simply bored by this book and sold it very quickly - for twice the price that I paid for it. At least therefore it was a good deal.

Koons For the Masses?
It takes a certain amount of egotism to call a $70.00 art book "for the poor," but when the subject artist is Jeff Koons, and the publisher Taschen, you can probably give them some leeway. The original edition was $4500, and a signed Art Edition for an eye-opening $15,000; so I guess at one two-hundred-and-fiftieth the price, this unlimited edition is for the "poor."

Koons is is both acclaimed and decried by art fans and collectors. He is often described as an artist of kitsch or the banal (or derivative of Duchamps), but the prices of his work keep skyrocketing. Here is a complete survey of his work, from a 43-foot-tall topiary sculpture of a dog (//Puppy//) to //Michael Jackson and Bubbles//, recently sold at auction for $5.6 million. There are basketballs floating in water, stainless steel blow-ups of toys and explicit pictures, paintings and sculptures of he and his porn star ex-wife Cicciolina engaged in sex acts. Throughout it all is commentary from art historian and critic Katy Siegel deconstructing the work and putting it in its place through the explosive growth of the contemporary art market in the 1980s and 90s.

For Taschen, //Koons// is an affordable work. At almost 600 pages of art, it is a massive book and beautifully produced. If you don't like Koons, his attitude or his work, you won't find anything here for you. But for collectors of contemporary art who didn't drop $4500 (or $15K) for a limited edition of the book, this $70 "popular" edition will let you enjoy the content, and not the pain of purchase.

The definitive Koons
Great book dealing with the entire corpus of Jeff Koons. Great quality of reproductions, enough information and contextualized Koons' profile.

Do you like Koons and do you enjoy with his provocation and "Duchampesque" style? Then get it.
I like Koons and I've got it. I'm as happy as his seals and puppies!!