Jeff Koons

International with Monument, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1986

Jeff Koons and Robert Rosenblum, The Jeff Koons Handbook, London, 1992, p. 153 (exhibition checklist)
Hans Holzwarth, Jeff Koons, Cologne, 2007, p. 132, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition. As is to be expected from previous handling and installation, there are scattered soft abrasions and scratches to the acrylic vitrines overall. The upper vitrine has a small chip 10 in. from the bottom back right corner and a slight crack at the seam of the bottom right front corner. The lower vitrine has a slight crack in the seam at the bottom right back corner. The 2 wet/dry cleaners are found objects with slight scratches, smudges and dents scattered overall with particular notations as follows: Wet/Dry 10 Gallon: There is a 10 in vertical scratch on the left hand side extending up from the bottom brown stripe, and an 8 in. diagonal series of light feathered scuffs extending up from the top of the brown stripe and into the white, located to the left of the hose connection. A 2 in. scratch in the upper brown stripe to the left of the wet/dry logo and a 3 in. intermittent scratch (curved in shape) in the bottom brown stripe near the wrapped extension cord have both been expertly retouched and color matched. The white enamel has a 1 ½ in. feathered soft abrasion at the bottom of the right side as illustrated. There are scattered small knicks to the white enamel on the raised rim – primarily located above the wheels and to the right of the extension cord. Wet/Dry 5 Gallon: There are 2 slight dents in the bottom blue stripe between the forward and rear right wheels and there are scattered knicks to the white enamel on the raised rim – primarily located above the wheels and to the right of the extension cord (smaller and lesser in number than those on the 10 gallon canister). There are a few minor soft rubs, nicks and faint scratches to the metal fixtures holding the light bulbs as is to be expected. The lights are cool white 20 watt bulbs and the work is currently wired for US electrical current.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Ever since the late 1970s, Koons has produced thematically titled, project-oriented bodies of work whose meaning and strength stem from clusters of mutually related pieces.  In 1979, Koons began work on the "Pre New" series - appliance assimilations constructed of household devices which he affixed to an upright support of fluorescent light bulbs.  One year later, in 1980, the artist began a series of works called "The New" consisting of works that liberated the metaphoric value of mass-produced objects by 're-framing' them and displaying them out of context.  The concept of the 'ready-made' transformed into 'high art' is the rich creative vein that runs throughout Koons' entire career.

The present work New Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5 Gallon, Double Decker from 1981-1987, crystallizes contemporary society's investment in novelty.  Koons chose the symbolic trophies of suburban middle-class domesticity, the wet/dry carpet cleaners, to glow in the ethereal iridescent lights as a representation of the ultimate and ideal sense of the new.  The artist fetishizes the objects by placing them in a modern day Plexiglas shrine.  The objects are lit from below and eerily hover in their cases, reminiscent of the imagery of the futuristic environment from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey film from 1968.  Koons provokes challenging questions and expectations in an era all but incapable of aesthetic surprise.  As he describes, "It's brand new, it's in a position to out-survive you, the viewer.  It doesn't have feelings, but it is better prepared to be eternal." (Exh. Cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Jeff Koons, 1992, p. 41)

In his work from the mid 1980s, Koons had resuscitated the conceptual genius of Marcel Duchamp, alchemizing the commonplace into the extraordinary by presenting manufactured objects on a pedestal formerly reserved for 'High' art.  The intention of these first displays of ready-mades, which included inflatable toy rabbits, and vacuum cleaners, was an expansion of the Duchampian prototype.  While the conceptual purity of both artists pivots on the fact that the uninitiated might not recognize the objects as art, Koons invests his objects with a deeper symbolic intention, substituting Duchamp's spirit of linguistic play and puns with an incisive comment on capitalism's vacuous obsession with commodities.  Encasing the wet/drys in pristine acrylic boxes, the "containers" are as much a part of the work formally, as that which is contained.  The appliances are transformed from an everyday domestic tool to a minimal and conceptual construction, an object of art to be viewed and considered formally, not functionally.  Koons consistently lures in the viewer with his universal iconography, drawn from the reservoirs of mass culture.

Clean lines, acrylic boxes stacked on top of each other and the use of fluorescent lights immediately brings to mind the work of Minimalist artists Donald Judd and Dan Flavin.  Recalling Judd's pristine geometry of his vertically deployed stack progressions, the appearance of the present work shares a modernist concern with purity and non-illusionist space.  The fluorescent lights both transform and abstract the space, creating a heightened drama and acknowledging their impermanence.  Throughout his oeuvre Koons has addressed major social issues such as class and gender roles as well as consumerism; while at the same time expressing very personal concerns about confinement, life, death, and sexuality.  Koons attaches a profusion of meaning to the things he sees and therefore to the objects he presents as art.  Regardless of how shocking or intricately layered with symbolic references, Koons' disruption of the normal always leaves a thread for us to grab onto, pulling us closer into his web of intellectual yet witty commentary and artful mastery which make him the most relevant artist of our time.  Like a relic of a new age, New Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5 Gallon Double Decker is a complex and significant example of Koons' work from his seminal series "The New".