A couple of years back I went to the ‘Made in Heaven’ exhibit of Art playboy Jeff Koons. The public was flowing in large numbers trough the entrance of The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Never before there was a better excuse for the general public to look at porn smut.
They looked at the Italian Pornstar Cicciolina, Ilona Staller, and Jeff Koons ( well only the head was from the artist, the body was from an other no-name pornstar)in various lovemaking positions.
The conservative artworld was shocked, the real Postmodern guys thought it was the art of the new ages, others thought of it as a reincarnation of Andy Warhol. It was news all over the world, the art critics were writing lake crazy, Koons was laughing and the dollars were rolling in. Now it’s 2004. Is Jeff Koons still alive? or did he died with his fame?
Well was his work really art, or even important? In my opinion yes it was. Jeff Koons and his work, but mostly the artist himself did shake up the highart world. Made art part of the discussion again, in stead of being the terrain of a few art critics and some arrogant museum directors. But besides this the works don’t have a value of their own, they are only important being part of the Jeff Koons concept. And that concept is art indeed.
