Jeff Koons and Song Su-nam

Jacques Paye

Jeff Koons

• American
• Pop culture subjects, banality, "kitsch"
• Born January 21, 1955 

Major inspiration: Salvador Dali

Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.

Inspiration: Hummel Figurines

Pink Panther

Pink Panther

Pink Panther

Cultural Context: Part of Banality series, 1988

Content: Jayne Mansfield holding Pink Panther

Formal Aspects: Kitsch, created in Italy, "figurine" style

Function: Artistic

Electronic Superhighway

 Balloon Dog (Pink). Jeff Koons. 1994-2000. mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating.

Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles (detail), 1988, ceramic.

Song Su-nam

• Born in 1938 in Korea
• A leader of Korea’s "Sumukhwa" or Oriental Ink Movement of the 1980s. 

Summer Trees

Pungent Distances

Morris Louis, Pungent Distances, 1961, magna on canvas,

231.8 x 150.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Summer Trees

Cultural Context: 1979, about 25 years after partitioning

Content: Representation of a forest of trees

Formal Aspects: "Ink Wash" technique, "literati" painting

Function: Artistic

Examples of Su-nam's work

Song Su-Nam, Tree, 1985, india ink on Korean paper, 94 x 138 cm (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea)

Su-nam Song (1978) 'Untitled', ink on Korean paper

Jeff Koons

• Focuses on pop culture, "kitsch" influence
• Works deal with themes of banality
• Critics sharply divided- pioneer or kitsch salesman?

Koons show at the Gagosian in NYC

Song Su-nam

• Strong legacy on "Sumukwha" movement
• Tension between Western and Korean themes, Korean War
• Used ideal of the literatus to counter uncertainty surrounding Korea

Sources:

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/identity-body/identity-body-europe/a/song-su-nam-summer-trees

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/identity-body/identity-body-united-states/a/koons-pink-panther

• http://www.jeffkoons.com/

• http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/6622
• http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/
• collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=267937&partId=1