Sculpture of the Week - Puppy by Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons, Puppy, (1992)

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain

(Source, Source)

Jeff Koons (1955-present) is a post-Pop artist who uses painting, sculpture and installations to recreate kitschy and everyday products in large scale. What he's actually doing is more complex than that - but it essentially boils down to what it is. While popular with the general public, critics either seem to love him or REALLY hate him *cough Robert Hughes cough*.

Puppy is an example of a work that has made Koons extremely popular with the public. The feeling that viewers get from this is *OMG, IT'S SO CUTE!!!* However, at 13m tall, this sculpture consisting of potted flowers on a wire frame containing an internal irrigation system to keep the plants alive, is a marvel of engineering, horticulture and imagination. But those details don't affect the viewer as just looking at it makes you think of a fluffy terrier puppy. This is the ultimate aim of the work.

Some things I have read about this work talk about how it is a metaphor for the impermanence of life. After all, the flowers in the sculpture will bloom and then whither, so too do all puppies grow up to become dogs. A random survey of the inhabitants of my house brought the reaction of *oh it's a puppy, I like that!* And it is this initial reaction to the work that is important. Koons himself has said Puppy is meant to be a symbol of "love, warmth and happiness". Objective achieved.

Originally erected in Bad Arolsen followed by Sydney, Puppy has become the symbol of Bilbao after moving there in 1997.