Untitled (Girl with Dolphin and Monkey)

JEFF KOONS (B. 1955)

Untitled (Girl with Dolphin and Monkey)

signed, numbered and dated in pencil 'Jeff Koons '08 3/25' (on the reverse)

Chromogenic print in colors, on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper

sheet: 27 1/4 x 39 3/4 inches (69.2 x 101 cm)

Executed in 2006. This work is number 3 from an edition of 35, plus 12 artist’s proofs.

Published by Carolina Nitsch, New York for the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 75th Anniversary Photography Portfolio.

PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from the publisher by the present owner

NOTES:

Born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955, Jeff Koons is renowned for his exploration of consumerism, kitsch and mass production, often blurring the lines between high art and commercial culture. His work features everyday manufactured objects, like inflatables, which he elevates to monumental scale and transforms into sculptures with high gloss surfaces in bright colors. Koons’ themes of desire, innocence and the artificial nature of life are central to his practice, challenging traditional notions of art. 

In Untitled (Girl with Dolphin and Monkey), commissioned for the Whitney Museum’s 75th Anniversary Photography Portfolio, Koons juxtaposes a pinup girl straddling inflatable toys against a banal backdrop. The photograph references his ongoing use of inflatables as metaphors for life, engaging themes of childhood, consumerism and sexuality.