Jeff Koons Makes Art Boring
AND OUR AUCTION IS LIVE!!!!!
This week our auction is up, I complain about Jeff Koons, and some fun art/business documentary recommendations.
The Auction Listing is Live!!!!!!!!
Our auction for Andy Kusama’s Polka-Dot Pumpkin Surprise (there is not really a surprise) is live! It ends Sunday at 05:46 PM (Pacific). If you are wondering what I am talking about, please read the previous two newsletters regarding Welcome to Business School Simulation #1: Let’s Create an Art Fund! I have created an auction on behalf of the 19 shareholders of this print, and if you would like to check out the auction (or even bid!) please go here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165818909874
Jeff Koons Makes the Art World Boring:
In both of this month’s newsletters, I will be writing about how artists and collectors work together to create safe, investable art objects through the use of multiples and other works that function in the same way. This issue will be about Jeff Koons, and the next will focus on Damien Hirst and his spot paintings (including the recent NFTs. Finally, I will talk about NFTs. Ugh.) Why do collectors like multiples? Well, if the other billionaires have one it must be good, right? Why do artists like them? They might sell for a little less than if there was only one, but hey, there are three of them! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching!
What is a multiple exactly?
My undergraduate degree is in printmaking, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about editions, multiples, reproductions, and copies. Multiples happen when commercial technology reaches a point where you can create more of one thing and have them all be reasonably identical. A great example is the printing press, which allowed words and images to be disseminated accurately, widely, and cheaply. Prints used to be the main way images were viewed, and there were stalls in every town that did brisk business. Editions were open, meaning that when the seller was running low, they could commission more prints to be run off the same plate and refresh their supply. Eventually, someone figured out that if you limited the edition you could charge a premium for the print, and while it was still cheaper than a painting or drawing, one could create value through scarcity. As other technologies were developed, more things could be editioned, and they were.
Some terms:
Mass market: Things that are produced in mass quantities for relatively cheap prices that can be purchased pretty much by anyone who wants them.
Open edition: An artwork that is not made in mass quantities but can be reprinted/recast/rewhatever as needed to replenish supplies.
Limited edition: An item with somewhere between 1 and 1,000 copies. (The higher number is arbitrary. I’m just using one that seems reasonable to me.)
Fine art edition: Between 1 and 250ish copies. I use 1 as the starting point rather than 2 in case there is an artist’s proof which would be identical to the edition but set aside for the artist. All objects in a fine art edition are considered to be both multiples and original works of art at the same time. All works in the edition are considered to have equal value.
Let’s talk about Jeff Koons. I don’t really think he’s quite a household name, but pretty much anybody who has an interest in contemporary art or luxury goods knows who he is; he’s probably most famous for his large 1994 Celebration series balloon animals, which are prevalent in mass media depictions of the art world. He worked in finance for a while, and he’s no dummy when it comes to selling stuff. Most of his work is not actually made by him but by a workshop he oversees, and generally speaking, I don’t think most folks in the art world have a problem with this practice as long as it is openly acknowledged. Workshop production has a long tradition going back to the old masters. Having the artist’s hand directly involved with the piece can increase a work’s value, but some people are so famous they need help keeping up with demand and employ assistants to help them meet it. I knew he was generating multiples, but what I didn’t realize was how early and how often in his career he was doing so. Back in 1985 with his Equilibrium series, he started creating his work in editions of 2 or 3, usually with an additional artist’s proof. Even his non-editioned work such as the Gazing Ball series (where he reproduces old masterworks with a reflective blue ball attached so viewers can position themselves within the work) are more variations on a theme than distinct artworks. He also often markets work as non-editions when there are in fact 5 of them, but they each come in a different color. We call that a variable edition where I come from.
Why does he do this? Well, for one, having a workshop and/or using commercial production techniques make it easy. He also seems to have a keen understanding of what rich people want. Some artist’s work is so rare that one might only have a few opportunities (if any) in a lifetime to make an acquisition. But what if you could join a club with much easier entry requirements, but that still excluded almost everyone else on the planet? Markets are just groups of people, and this particular cohort of the super-rich exists for a specific purpose: to have “safe” vehicles in which to invest their money, while at the same time indicating their status to everyone else - most importantly to each other. A lot of these people want noncontroversial blue-chip art that will quietly appreciate; not everyone is a speculator. Jeff Koons has intentionally positioned himself as the guy who can give this group exactly what they want.
I’m not gonna weigh in on the quality of Koons’ work because a ton of people have already done so, and it’s not germane to the discussion at hand. But I will say I think it is obvious that he considers a work's reproducibility at every step of the process. What’s the problem with this? Well, for Koons, maybe there isn’t one. But this practice encourages baaaaaaad collector behavior. In my opinion, art should not be a fungible (interchangeable) asset. I LOVE prints, but they are offered at a lower price because they often come in editions. (They probably should be more expensive in order to support the print ecosystem, but that’s another issue.) But one print edition is not interchangeable with another. The success of Koons’ work is because his editions kind of are. Do I want the gazing ball piece with the Courbet or do I want it with the Manet? Does it matter since they both have the same function? Well, if I can’t get one of those, maybe I could get a balloon rabbit. I hear one is coming onto the market. Wait, it’s one of the swans? That’s fine too. Investors buy these because they all want to have the same things. It’s not about loving the work - although they may - but about displaying status and money. And when they look at other art to purchase, they start considering fungibility to be a feature, not a bug. HOW FREAKING BORING. And how tempting for any artist coming up who sees this and is looking to make a living in this market. This has a real effect on what gets made and what we get to see in museums and popular culture. It’s depressing. And dull, dull, dull.
Partial List of Jeff Koons Multiples:
I went through Koons’ website and found the editions sections, but this only includes his smaller, limited edition items, of which it appears he has put out quite a few. I’m guessing he’s made some good money from this less prestigious market. The info regarding his fine art editions lies in the descriptions of his larger, “art” works. Here is a sampling of the multiples he has offered over his career (I am using the section headings from his website in case you wanna go check them out.) :
Equilibrium:
1985: Aqualung Edition of 3 plus AP (Artist’s Proof)
1985: Basketball Edition of 3 plus A
1985: Lifeboat Edition of 3 plus AP
There are 6 more sculptures with editions of 3 and 12 tanks with basketballs suspended in them in editions of 2.
Luxury and Degradation:
1986: 15 stainless steel sculptures in editions of 3 and 8 oil inks on canvas in editions of 2.
Statuary:
1986: Rabbit edition of 3 plus AP (Sold on the secondary market in 2019 for $91.1 million.)
There are 9 more sculptures with editions of 3 in this series.
Banality:
1988: Michael Jackson and Bubbles Edition of 3 plus AP
There are 17 more sculptures with editions of 3 in this series.
Made in Heaven:
1991: There are a lot of sculpture editions of Koons and his wife doing it.
Popeye:
2008: There are at least 20 sculptures with editions of 3.
Balloon Swan:
2004-2011: These are not really considered editions because they are different colors, but there are 5 of them. In printmaking, we would call this a variable edition.
Balloon Rabbit:
2005-2010: Variable edition of 5.
Popeye (Stainless):
2009-2011: Edition of 3 plus AP
Porcelain:
2016-2020: Venus Edition of 3 plus AP
2016-2021: Aphrodite Edition of 3 plus AP
I COULD GO ON. But I am not, because I’ve made my point, and this is not the fun kind of research.
Movie Recommendations:
Here are a few films I watched in preparation for this month’s newsletters. If you are looking for some enjoyable edutainment, here you go.
Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World 2017, Barry Avrich
This film lightly touches on A LOT of the subjects we have and will be discussing in this project. It’s not a particularly deep dive but is an entertaining and solid introduction to the financialization of the art world. It is available to stream for free/with ads on Hoopla, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and more. Also rentable at all your finer online video purveyors.
The Price of Everything 2018, Nathaniel Kahn
A general look at the contemporary art world that is as interesting for what it misses as for what it shows. It’s a fun watch though and addresses some of the issues in this project. Available on Kanopy and rentable.
Further Reading:
https://www.apollo-magazine.com/artists-multiples-jeff-koons-rabbit/
https://www.christies.com/features/Jeff-Koons-Rabbit-Own-the-controversy-9804-3.aspx
If you can afford it, I STRONGLY suggest you take Master Printer Phil Sanders’ History of Print class online at the Manhattan Graphics Center if you have any interest in prints. He’s forgotten more than I will ever know on the subject, and it is an amazing class. There is a new session starting up in January.
https://www.manhattangraphicscenter.org/service-page/history-of-print-2