Manolo Valdés

Reina Mariana II (Las Meninas), 2022, Valdés, porcelain sculptures

2022

A reimagined iconography of the gemstone found in nature that becomes a vehicle to reflect upon consumerism and mass production. Diamond (Red) - Jeff Koons, Contemporary, 21st Cen...

In Koons’ hands even the most familiar, everyday items transcend commonality to become true icons manifesting the essence of American popular culture. Balloon Rabbit (Violet) - Jeff Koons, 21st Century, Contemporary, Porcelain, Sculpture, Decor, Limited Edition Limoges porcelain with chromatic metalized coating Edition of 999 Signed and numbered In mint condition, as acquired from the manufacturer In the original box designed by Jeff Koons, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity Inspired by a twisted rubber balloon rabbit, Balloon Rabbit (Violet), is a highly reflective red porcelain limited edition. Incorporating the vocabulary of his iconic Celebration sculptures, Balloon Rabbit, along with two other animals, Balloon Monkey and Balloon Swan, marked a spectacular new chapter in Jeff Koons’s oeuvre. “One of the things that I’m most proud of is making work that lets viewers not feel intimidated by art, but feel that they can emotionally participate in it through their senses and their intellect and be fully engaged”. — Jeff Koons The idea for a Balloon Rabbit sculpture came to Jeff Koons from his upbringing in south-central Pennsylvania. At special times of the year, people would decorate their front yard with reindeer at Christmas and inflatable rabbits at Easter. As his neighbors wished t give pleasure to other people with these decorations, the artist is proud to make art that is not intimidated for the viewers. JEFF KOONS Jeff Koons (born 1955) playfully tests the boundaries of commerce, celebrity, banality and pleasure, turning banal commercial or everyday objects into art icons by using seductive materials, a shift of scale and a contextual displacement. He rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as part of a generation of artists who explored the meaning of art in a media-saturated era. Koons turns banal commercial or everyday objects into art icons by using seductive materials, a shift of scale, and a contextual displacement. Jeff Koons’s “Balloon Dog” (featuring his enormous iconic chromium stainless steel dogs); his large-scale vinyl “Inflatables”; or the giant “Split-Rocker” all follow this principle. For instance, Jeff Koons in “Puppy” engaged the past and the present, referencing the eighteenth-century formal garden, while adding the most sugary of iconography. “It’s basically the medium that defines people’s perceptions of the world, of life itself, how to interact with others. The media defines reality.” —Jeff Koons Originally licensed as a commodities broker, Koons decided to become an artist in the late 1970s and moved from Wall Street into a factory-like studio in SoHo with hundreds of assistants. Since then, he has produced different iconic series, like the “Pre-New”, a series of domestic objects in strange new configurations, and “The Equilibrium” series, consisting of basketballs floating in distilled water tanks. The “Banality” series, which includes Jeff Koons´s “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” and “Woman in Tub”, among others, is characterized by oddly eroticized, comic, and kitsch images. However, it is indeed Koons’s “Made in Heaven” series that is his most provocative and controversial work, in which he examines the place of sexuality in visual culture. Koons is widely regarded as one of the most important, influential, and controversial contemporary artists. He constantly tests the boundaries between art and commerce...

With the Celebration series, Koons offers a reimagined iconography of the gemstone found in nature, which takes billions of years to form, in a brand new colour. The Diamond becomes ...

With the Celebration series, Koons offers a reimagined iconography of the gemstone found in nature, which takes billions of years to form, in a brand new colour. The Diamond becomes ...