Final Assignment Pitch: Jeff Koons Profile

Audience: a New York magazine aimed at young adults, like New York Magazine

Jeff Koons represents the epitome of current art, with artistic references to Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp and pop references to Elvis and the Pink Panther. His pieces walk the line between “playfulness (with) a contemporary monumentality,” in his words, and vacuous flops without a frame of reference. Placement is crucial to the effectiveness of Koons’s pieces, a theme which I aim to explore alongside sexuality, bright color, and scale as they mirror trends in wider popular culture.

Koons has reached a sustained stardom during his active career, a feat few visual artists achieve. This popularity comes with much debate; I will use articles with contradictory viewpoints from the “New York Times,” London’s “The Independent,” and other new sources, as well as interviews with Koons from “Charlie Rose,” “CNN,” and a Warhol documentary by Ric Burns. My research will of course be supplemented with Koons’s own work from his web portfolio.

His personal life builds the controversy evoked by his art: he married a porn star turned Italian Parliament member, hired an image consultant, and according to “The Independent” of London “gives interview in the third person.” This profile will have qualities that catch our readers attention: pop culture, art, and controversy through the lens of a New York-based artist.

I am versed in pop culture, art history, and the New York art scene, but not too immersed in any to blind my analysis. I believe that as a young visual artist, I am well-suited to write an informed and critical feature on Jeff Koons.