The Monster
Jeff Koons – Made in Heaven
“ i’ll bet you monsters lead interesting lives
i said to my girlfriend just the other day
gee i’ll bet monsters are interesting
i said the places you must go and
the things you must see my stars
and i’ll bet you meet a lot of interesting people
though i’m always interested in meeting interesting people” Bugs and Gossamer
Why do we value an artist? How do we go about it? Well, for me it’s always about the fallout. There’s a “before” moment and an “after” moment. I enjoyed Koons’ work when I first arrived in New York. It was not like anything I had seen. Also, it was problematic. It pushed some buttons. But none of us were prepared for Koon’s “paradise.”
It’s hard to describe the impact of this show on younger artists. Many of us had been looking for a way into the avant-garde party. Jeff was doing the exact opposite. He walked out of that velvet-roped room and left the door wide open for all to see that the party had moved on. Instead, Jeff appropriated and inserted himself into Cicciolina’s world and made that his avant-garde. He found Heaven. Jeff was openly daring artists to find other realities beyond the institutional critique. His freedom and confidence blew our minds. From that moment on, we would have to make tough choices. Cross the velvet ropes and join the word-bound and quotidian avant-garde, or find a new way to exist as painters and artists.
This infamous show turned out to be an extinction event.
“When I look at a painting like ‘Ilona’s Asshole,’ ” he said, referring to one of the raunchier examples in the series, “I’m very proud of it. I think it’s a really wonderful painting. I like that it’s close up, because guilt and shame about the body, especially when seen close up, have a certain intensity. If you look at Ilona’s ass, there are pimples on it, and there’s such a sense of humanity in that, and oneness with the world and with nature.” [Calvin Tomkins, The Turnaround Artist, New Yorker, April 23, 2007]
The thing about the images in Made in Heaven is that they go beyond words. You cannot revile them. You cannot critique them. There is no heft, no grift or grit, and no titillation. Jeff made these transgressive images so impressively bland that any possible outre comments one might utter are senseless. There is no “art” to them. The only certainty about them is the undeniability of the action and relationships depicted. They are, for lack of a better word, real. Can you imagine? Art that is impossible to judge. Fuck!
Jerry Saltz recalled Koons asking him at the opening, “Jerry, don’t you think that Ilona’s asshole is the center of the universe?” [Roison McVeigh “Reflecting on why the art world loves to hate Jeff Koons” Dazed, February 12, 2019.]
This conceptual safe harbor allowed Koons to sell his startling pitch. You can get over shame and guilt concerning your body. You can reach a higher state of humanity and consciousness if you suspend judgment. And as you can see, this cognitive loophole is built right into this work. Ecstatic pleasures and pure love will save you. Look! Jeff is the man to get you there. But understand, he’s not a pastor bringing you the good news. No. Jeff goes the full monty. He is your artist and your savior. “Come, take a closer walk with me.”
I’ve heard a lot of artists make grand claims about their work. But Jesus Christ, this was the pitch of all pitches.
As for practicality, I do not know a single artist who would want to be in a group show with some of these images. It isn’t because these artists would be offended and clutch their oil paint pearls. It’s simply because no painting can survive hanging next to one of these images. Koons’ matter-of-fact, self-portrait depictions of transcendent love and sex soak up all the space in a room. Put up one of Jeff’s Made in Heaven images next to any painting you choose. Place it in any room you like. There isn’t a chance in hell that your choice will hold any of that wall. All eyes will be on Jeff’s beatific sexual congress. At best, there might be a near tie.
“The trick is to be outrageous but not offensive.” [Jeff Koons on his salesmanship at MOMA. Calvin Tomkins, The Turnaround Artist, The New Yorker, April 23, 2007]
The reception for this work was tight, spiteful and dismissive, and Jeff took a real critical and financial hit. The following year, he redeemed himself to the art world with the “Puppy.” Then came “Celebrations” along with an endless parade of shiny balloon twaddle. This “return to normalcy” made Koons one of the richest and most collected artists in the contemporary art world. That’s all well and good, I suppose, but none of these mid-career works holds a candle to anything that was Made in Heaven. Over the years that show has been skimmed over and pushed aside in art history. And that’s a shame, because it was truly a watershed moment for Koons and possibly for the whole art world.
Today when MIH comes up in conversation many of us fervently wish Jeff Koons could again be that Monster from 1991. He’s had 30 years of life to think about that moment. Could Jeff have more to say about the world, love and life? Will he return to us with the good news? C’mon Jeff, please, do not go quietly into that good night! Bring back the Monster.
It would be so interesting!
Mark Stone January 2025
on substack – https://mstone.substack.com/p/the-monster
I haven’t posted the more controversial imagery from the show. My apologies but you’ll have to search that on your own.
