Bluebird Planter

Bluebird Planter is part of the Antiquity series, which plays with the boundaries between ancient and contemporary, fine art and decorative art, ornament and monumental sculpture, original and copy, lightness and density. This imposing stainless steel statue, with its metallic colours and “hyperbolized” motif, contrasts with its tender, naive, sentimental iconography: a bluebird resting on a flowering branch. The bird represented has already become an object, since it is a small porcelain vase that Koons reproduces in colossal proportions: the bird, frozen in these saccharine colours, carries a spray of fresh flowers on its back. It is reminiscent of the kitschy objects which could be found in certain dinner services of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

Although this metal sculpture is the result of sophisticated engineering in order to achieve a perfect finish, the mirror polishing technique and the translucent coloured coating give the illusion that it was made simply by inflating a child's balloon with helium. The size of the ensemble and the presence of fresh flowers echo other sculptures by the artist, such as the famous Puppy (1992)—a giant Westie dog head—and Split Rocker (2000)—a two-headed work that is half dinosaur and half pony—each bristling with thousands of fresh flowers.

Bluebird Planter is presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition "Jeff Koons Mucem" in 2021.