With a stated intention to ‘communicate with the masses’, Jeff Koons is one of the most influential and popular artists of his generation. Venus 2016–20 is part of Koons’ ongoing Porcelain series which juxtaposes classical ideals of beauty with sophisticated contemporary production technologies. The over life-size, mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture is based on an 18th century porcelain figurine of the same name by Wilhelm Christian Meyer. Mirrors and reflection have long been a hallmark of Koons’s work and he has cited his love for the intoxicating quality of the reflection and its resulting distortion, as well as its ability to implicate the viewer within the work. ‘One of the most used words in philosophy is to “reflect”. To reflect is an inward process, but also an outward process,’ says Koons. ‘The use of reflective surfaces was to connect the work to philosophy and the experience of becoming. And that we not only have our internal life, but we also have the external world – this interaction is what gives us a future. Reflections tell the viewer that nothing is ever happening without them. Art happens inside them.’
Jeff Koons
b. 1955, USA
Venus, 2016–20
stainless steel
254.0 × 144.5 × 158.3 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased with funds donated by Loti & Victor Smorgon Fund, Leigh Clifford AO and Sue Clifford, John Higgins AO and Jodie Maunder, Paula Fox AO and Fox Family Foundation, Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest and NGV Foundation, 2020