Promise of Light

Let us talk of art. Visual art. There is an artist, Jeff Koons, who has said something that I'd like to build a discussion around. I hadn’t heard of him until just recently. His works sell for millions of dollars. But it is his statement that I find profound. From what I’ve seen, he takes an object that we’ve seen a thousand and one times and recreates it on a gigantic scale, such as the balloon dog twisted by an entertainer at a child’s birthday party. There’s more to it than just that, though, recreating it. Teams of artists work on these projects, and sometimes they take years to complete. The thirty-foot tall (I’m not sure if that’s exact but it shall suffice for our purposes here) balloon-dog likeness is several shades of metallic green in the sunlight when it is at its most beautiful, and a perfect mirrored reflection can be seen. One is expected to sell for 26 million. In a sense, the whole borrowing things from everyday life an reproducing them into art via intent, materials and techniques used, is all very Warholian in nature. I once asked an artist long ago if Warhol’s work was art. Don’t ever do that. Or at least don't ever ask that of the artist that I asked. People tend to be divided on opinions about Warhol and his art. But, we’re not talking about him or his art. We’re not even talking about Koons’ art. But art itself.

“And so I hope that when somebody views a work of art that they realize that the art is really inside of them. It’s never in the object. It’s never in the image that they’re viewing. The art happens within them. It’s always about their potential.” — Jeff Koons

I know what I think.(Or at least I think I know, for now) But what do you think? Is Koons right? How would you refute his statement? Or would you want to? Does it have nothing to do with the object or image born from the artist’s eye, born from the stroke of her brush, or the shaping of his metal? The colors or the curves that make up the art? Where is the art?

Is it in the art itself? Or is it a dynamic of humanity between the artist and its interpreter (which could be one and the same) that truly makes art...art?


What is it that you want to say? Let us talk of art.