JEFF KOONS | Donkey

mirror-polished stainless steel Executed in 1999, this work is number 1 of an edition of 3 plus 1 artist proof.

Sonnabend Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owners

New York, Sonnabend Gallery, Easyfun, 13 November 1999 - 15 February 2000
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Jeff Koons, 18 July - 16 September 2001; catalogue, pp. 63, 83 , illustrated in colour (another edition)
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, 27 June - 19 October 2014; catalogue, p. 154, illustrated in colour (another edition)
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, 26 November 2014 - 27 April 2015; catalogue, p. 162 (another edition)
Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, 9 June - 27 September 2015 (another edition)
Miami, Moore Building, Pop Minimalism / Minimalist Pop, 5 December - 9 December 2018 (another edition)

Exhibition catalogue, Aspen, Aspen Art Museum, Warhol/Koons/Hirst: Cult and Culture, 2001, p. 39, plate no. 20, illustrated in colour (another edition)
Exhibition catalogue, Bregenz, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Jeff Koons, 2001, p. 63, 83 (another edition)
Sarah Cosulich Canarutto, Jeff Koons (Supercontemporanea series), Milan, 2006, pp. 76-77, illustrated in colour (another edition)
Jeff Koons, Cologne, 2008, p. 444, illustrated in colour
Exhibition catalogue, London, Serpentine Gallery, Jeff Koons: Popeye Series, 2 July - 15 September 2009, p. 53, illustrated in colour (another edition)
Taschen, 100 Contemporary Artists, Cologne, 2009, p. 324, illustrated in colour
Pierre Nahon, L'Histoire de la Galerie Beaubourg I 1936-1988, Paris, 2009, p. 68, illustrated in colour
Michael Polsinelli and Sasha Burkhanova, The Words, Garage Magazine Fall/Winter 2014, p. 85 (edited version reproduced), (another edition)
Luther Blissett, La jouissance du retour en enfance, Beaux Arts editions, December 2014, p. 53 
Jeff Koons & Norman Rosenthal, Jeff Koons: Conversations with Norman Rosenthal, 2014, p. 19 
Jeff Koons and Norman Rosenthal, Jeff Koons: Entretiens avec Norman Rosenthal, 2014, p. 19
Exhibition catalogue, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Jeff Koons: La Retrospective: The Album of the Exhibition.  2014, p. 41
Exhibition catalogue, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Jeff Koons: La Retrospective: The Portfolio of the Exhibition, 2014, p. 115

The colours are fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration. Under close inspection tiny scratches and stains are visible throughout the surface mainly towards the edge. This work is in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In a reflective surface, your existence is being affirmed. When you move, your abstracted reflection changes. The experience is dependent upon you; it lets you know that art is happening inside of you.

Jeff Koons  

An icon of contemporary art and a figurehead of Neo-Pop, Jeff Koons is undoubtedly one of the most talented and provocative artists of his generation. His work, as controversial as eclectic and visionary, is based on the diversion of everyday objects that the artist steals from their ordinary destiny to question the status of the artist and the work of art. A vacuum cleaner, a basketball, a mirror ... By using manufactured products that he is certainly the first to place inside a museum, Koons purely and simply revolutionizes our conception of what a sculpture or a painting should be.

 

In Donkey, shimmering at two meters high, Koons plays on a theme that therefore is dear to him -redefining the concept of a work of art- while playing on archetypes of his resolutely childish and optimistic oeuvre. Close to the universe of Walt Disney, the bestiary of Koons, populated by dogs and other steeds with rounded shapes and gleaming shells borrows from the most contemporary American mythology in order to deliver an allegory of desire and lust particularly representative of the post-industrial society that Koons apparently loves as much as he hates.