Jeff Koonssssssss

When I think Jeff Koons, I automatically attribute him to the large sculptures and the pop art he is so famous for. However, I recently looked at his painting and they are mind-blowing. Usually photo realism with painting, especially with figures, bothers me. It is almost frustrating with how perfect and smooth the pieces are. Just TAKE A PICTURE! On the other hand, I am dealing with the same frustration with these paintings by Koons because of their photo-realistic characteristics. Yet, with this realism, there is a certain freedom with the color and forms he chooses to create. The colors are so bright that he pieces themselves feel cartoonish and childlike but real all at the same time.

In my own work, I am trying to play with bright colors because in my previous classes I was leaning more towards dark paintings with darker colors. This time around, with oil I want to see that glow from the paint but also the pigment. I not only want the image to draw you in, but the color choices themselves. I am also toying with set boundaries on my paintings. I like smooth edges and defined sections of painting. In the 25 drawings we did for class, I realized I like to work in black and white but also with lines and geometric shapes and patterns. I like the chaos of free-handing lots of lines. With that, I also like the organizations of the patterns I make with the lines. Koons toys with the same characteristics but also plays with a lot of blending. To illustrate the shine, Koons, or his hired studio painters, have made such a huge variety of each color, spanning from dark to light, that the shading literally comes to life. I have become obsessed with monochromatic works finding that there is such a flexibility with working with one color. It almost calms me because there is only one color to worry about, but at the same time I feel like I can really concentrate on the depth of the color and how it can literally portray all lighting situations no matter what the painting.

I also feel like Koons takes advantage of blending. I have become and huge fan of blending on the actual canvas because for some reason the variations of color become more stimulating for me. Like I can see the color differences way clearer when I am applying the paint to convey a part of the piece, but on my pallet I seem to not see the variations and stunt myself on options. With the shading and highlights of the background, there is clear blending going on that I am assuming is done on the canvas, individual colors are mixed out and put next to each other, but the dry brush blending is what creates even more depth between the two colors further making a distinction between the background and foreground.

In my work, I hope to perfect this technique and further explore lighting and the portrayal with one color and eventually two opposing colors on one object.