6.4

Senior Years Activity

Jeff Koons: Commentaries on 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 research and respond to commentary.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

Individual Task

Do you agree or disagree with this statement taken from the website of the Guggenheim Deutche Bank Berlin:

"Jeff Koons attacked the public with advertising’s high-gloss surfaces, details of which he mutated to the point of monstrosity."

Is this work monstrous? Does it attack the public?

Give reasons for your point of view.

Group Task

Look at Sandwiches and other works from the EasyFun-Ethereal series by Jeff Koons. Discuss any connections you might see between the works and these concepts:

  • Desire and excess
  • Consumerism and advertising

Discuss any relationships you might see between Koons's EasyFun-Ethereal series and the following movements: Surrealism, Pop Art, Photo-Realism and Baroque/Rococco.

Consider the following commentary about Sandwiches and discuss whether you think it is accurate:

"…I find they are full of references to high and low culture, mixing surreal images with snatches from adverts. The first, enormous, canvas as you go in is entitled Sandwiches - a jumble of archetypal US deli-style sandwiches, complete with olive eyes and a chocolate smear moustache. They make you want to laugh out loud."
Olive Clancy in Jeff Koons: King of kitsch BBC 2001