Latest news with #BalloonVenusDolniVestonice
The Age
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘Changed the language of what art is': Huge balloon sculpture for national gallery
A playful balloon sculpture, part of an iconic series created by controversial pop artist Jeff Koons, has officially joined Jackson Pollock's Blue poles in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Balloon Venus Dolni Vestonice (Yellow) is a 2.7-metre high yellow stainless-steel sculpture that reimagines a prehistoric fertility figure as a mirror-polished balloon. It's the first of the American artist's balloon series to enter the collection of an Australian cultural institution and gallery director Nick Mitzevich says he's more than ready for a public debate over whether the sculpture qualifies as art. 'There are artists in each generation that revolutionises what art is, that challenges people,' Mitzevich said. 'Jackson Pollock re-thought what painting was. In the '60s and '70s, Andy Warhol re-thought what art could be, that everyday objects could be art. 'Louise Bourgeois revolutionised the way she made work with her gigantic amazing spiders, for example. What Jeff Koons has done from the 1980s, he has changed the language of what art is. History shows these revolutionaries become the middle ground and the reference points for each generation and I believe that of Jeff Koons.' Koons melds pop art, conceptual art and minimalism, employing modern materials and highly polished surfaces to riff on everything from household appliances such as the vacuum cleaner to inflatable animals. He is best known in Australia as the creator of Puppy, a 12-metre-high terrier made from 60,000 flowering plants and 55,000 tonnes of soil which was installed in the forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Changed the language of what art is': Huge balloon sculpture for national gallery
A playful balloon sculpture, part of an iconic series created by controversial pop artist Jeff Koons, has officially joined Jackson Pollock's Blue poles in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Balloon Venus Dolni Vestonice (Yellow) is a 2.7-metre high yellow stainless-steel sculpture that reimagines a prehistoric fertility figure as a mirror-polished balloon. It's the first of the American artist's balloon series to enter the collection of an Australian cultural institution and gallery director Nick Mitzevich says he's more than ready for a public debate over whether the sculpture qualifies as art. 'There are artists in each generation that revolutionises what art is, that challenges people,' Mitzevich said. 'Jackson Pollock re-thought what painting was. In the '60s and '70s, Andy Warhol re-thought what art could be, that everyday objects could be art. 'Louise Bourgeois revolutionised the way she made work with her gigantic amazing spiders, for example. What Jeff Koons has done from the 1980s, he has changed the language of what art is. History shows these revolutionaries become the middle ground and the reference points for each generation and I believe that of Jeff Koons.' Koons melds pop art, conceptual art and minimalism, employing modern materials and highly polished surfaces to riff on everything from household appliances such as the vacuum cleaner to inflatable animals. He is best known in Australia as the creator of Puppy, a 12-metre-high terrier made from 60,000 flowering plants and 55,000 tonnes of soil which was installed in the forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
AU Financial Review
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
This $20m balloon is the priciest art ever given to the National Gallery
A sculpture by Jeff Koons estimated at more than $20 million may have become the most expensive single gift ever received by the National Gallery of Australia. The American artist's Balloon Venus Dolni Vestonice (Yellow) 2013-17, a 2.7-metre high stainless steel sculpture inspired by a palaeolithic figurine, has been gifted to the Canberra institution by Steve Shelley, co-founder of tech unicorn Deputy. He had loaned it to NGA since 2019.
