6.3

Senior Years Activity

Researching the Influence of Pop Art

Jeff KOONS - Sandwiches (from EasyFun-Ethereal) 2000

Jeff KOONS
American 1955–
Sandwiches (from EasyFun-Ethereal) 2000
oil on canvas
304.8 x 426.7 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
© Jeff Koons
2006.8

 

For

Senior Years Students

Curriculum

VCE Art/Studio Arts

Aim

To investigate the impact and influence  of Pop Art on Contemporary Art.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

Individual Task

Research artists who use collage, photo montage and collage-like painting techniques to appropriate imagery from their world in their work. Consider Dada, Surrealist and Pop artists.

What techniques does Koons use that were not available to Dada, Surrealist and Pop artists?

Research Questions

Visit the website db-artmag.com, an online art magazine.
Read the interview with Jeff Koons from Issue 30 about the working practice of his team of 50 workers. How does this interview suggest ‘that walking into Jeff Koons’ studio is more like walking into a car factory or NASA’?

Explore the methods of appropriation in the 20th century that may have inspired Jeff Koons.

Group Task

Consider the work of other artists who use food in bizarre ways to create distinctive artworks, such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s portraits and contemporary Belgian artist Wim Delvoye’s salami terrazzo works.

Discussion Questions

Jeff Koons has a team of technicians to help him create his art. Although the concept was his, he did not actually paint the final work himself.

How do you feel about this process?

Where else in this exhibition can you see artists who value the idea more highly than their unique mark.