We’re big fans of Jeff Koon’s famously optimistic, kitschy and celebratory approach to contemporary pop art.

We’ve offered a number of Koon’s humorous and playful works before, and are excited to have one of his super iconic, highly collectable and deeply cherished pieces once again.

Dogs and flowers are reoccurring Koons motifs. They've appeared separately in various incarnations and mediums throughout his oeuvre. These saccharine icons merged together in 1992 with Koon's behemoth installation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, featuring a West Highland Terrier puppy coated in blooming flowers.

“Puppy” towered over 40 feet tall, hosting over seventeen thousand living flowers. The giant floral sculpture not only secured Koon's international reputation but also became a beloved masterpiece.

Despite international acclaim, that same year Koons was rejected from showing at the "Documenta 9" contemporary art fair to be held in Kassel, Germany. Undeterred, Koons was accepted to show at the "Made for Arolsen" exhibition held at Arolsen Castle about 45 minutes away from Kassel. The mammoth, floral-covered puppy was installed on the front lawns of the castle-turned-museum. An undeniably charming and majestic visual combination, "Puppy" ultimately deterred many visitors away from Documenta 9 bringing them instead to Arolsen Castle.

The image on this porcelain platter was taken of the "Puppy" installation at Arolsen Castle. The castle's baroque architecture of straight lines and a smooth facade contrasts and accentuates Koon's luscious, living floral-furred puppy. Sitting with regal obedience in the courtyard, the puppy's soft lines and layers of topiary texture are dramatically framed by the handsome castle (dog house?).

A feat of buoyant imagination, technical engineering, and mixing old art forms with the new, Koons himself explains that puppy "is a symbol of love, warmth, and happiness”.

Circumventing much of the art world's layered meanings, "Puppy" presents the viewer with immediate understanding and enjoyment. After handling this playful little piece, we couldn’t agree more.

(If you're a fan of Jeff Koons, we strongly recommend visiting the Whitney's website where you can explore a multi-media selection of content from their 2014 retrospective.)

Questions about this piece? Contact us or call +1.416.704.1720

"Puppy"

USA, 1992

Signed, numbered and dated on verso

Enamel on porcelain platter

From an edition of 125

11"H 15.25"W 1"D

Publisher: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Very good condition

Art Gifts - The 2020 Gift Guide

Price

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DAN CHRISTENSEN "BLUE SPLASH", 1999

JEFF KOONS "PUPPY" PORCELAIN PLATTER, 1992