Kitsch and commerce have defined Jeff Koons's artistic work since the 1980s. For example, the artist polarized with pornographic porcelain figures, some of which were larger than life, elevated brand-new vacuum cleaners to ready-mades worthwhile exhibiting, or designed a handbag for the fashion brand H&M on occasion of the opening of a new flagship store at the time. Among his best-known works are the "Balloon Animals", with which the artist immortalized the brightly colored, pop-art aesthetics of balloons modeled into animal figures. A supposedly short-lived disposable product is turned into an eternally beautiful work of art with the help of the flawless, high-gloss polished surface. "The most important thing to me is the preservation of the object - the sense that it has been created to survive and that its longevity is certain," explains Koons (quoted from: www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ jeff-koons-2368 / jeff-koons-banality-decadence-and-easyfun).
The work series of apparently airy, light balloon animals, in particular the "Balloon Dogs", in a wide variety of colors and sizes, are among the artist's best-known works. The monumental versions of the "Balloon Dog" were exhibited in the Palace of Versailles and on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2008, as well as in the solo exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen / Basel in 2012.
Since the artist's first solo exhibition in 1980, the unmistakable works have been on display at the world‘s most important museums. In 2014 at the Center Pompidou in Paris, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao dedicated a grand retrospective to the artist. Until January 30, 2022, some works can be seen in the exhibition "Shine" at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence - where visitors can of course also marvel at a monumental "Balloon Dog". [CH]