Image courtesy of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection

French Coach Couple

1986

American, born 1955

Jeff Koons is inspired by Western art and popular culture to create easily recognizable subject matter. In 1986, the artist made exact copies of existing objects—such as souvenirs, European busts, and decorative bric-a-brac—in stainless steel versions that blur the lines of immediate interpretation. He states, “My series Luxury and Degradation (1986) was all about the danger of chasing luxury. Everything was made of stainless steel, an artificial luxury, a proletarian material. I could have melted it and turned it into pots and pans.”

Stainless steel

18 x 16 x 11 1/2 in. (45.7 x 40.6 x 29.2 cm)

Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2020.15.18

Provenance: [Sonnabend Gallery, New York, 1986]

Image courtesy of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryMassachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Binational: American Art of the Late 80s, Sept. 1988.

Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Object Lessons, May 16 - July 14, 1991.

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