Jeff Koons

Artist | Speaker

Culture

Internationally recognized artist Jeff Koons (b. 1955) is widely known for his iconic sculptures Rabbit and Balloon Dog as well as his monumental floral works Puppy and Split-Rocker. Working with everyday objects, his work revolves around themes of self-acceptance and transcendence. Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, Koons’s work has been shown in major galleries and institutions throughout the world. His work was the subject of a major exhibition organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2014, which traveled to the Centre Pompidou and Guggenheim Bilbao. Koons has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his cultural achievements. Notably, President Chirac promoted Koons to Officier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur and Koons was honored with the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of the Arts. Koons was the first Artist-in-Residence at Columbia University’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. Koons is a board member of The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children and co-founded the Koons Family Institute for the purpose of combating global issues of child abduction and exploitation. Koons lives and works in New York City.