Dolphin
2002
Polychromed aluminum, stainless steel, coated steel chain
127 x 200 x 97 cm (50 x 78 3/4 x 38 3/16 in.)
This inflatable dolphin in polychrome aluminium is suspended by stainless steel chains and supports a series of kitchen utensils. It differs from Koons' previous sculptures by its more melancholic character. Combining a children's toy with pots and pans, he highlights mass consumption’s cultural omnipresence in our lives.
Iconic contemporary artist Jeff Koons’ 2002 sculpture Dolphin is highly characteristic of his exploration of the relationship between popular kitsch and high art. Here, the contradiction between the dolphin's uniform, convex, appealing lightness and the pans’ chaotic, concave, composite heaviness highlights the triumph of mass consumption in every possible form.
Koons' sculpture Dolphin, which is in the Pinault Collection, was presented in 2009 during the exhibition "Un certain état du monde ?" (“A Certain State of the World?”) at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow.
Iconic contemporary artist Jeff Koons’ 2002 sculpture Dolphin is highly characteristic of his exploration of the relationship between popular kitsch and high art. Here, the contradiction between the dolphin's uniform, convex, appealing lightness and the pans’ chaotic, concave, composite heaviness highlights the triumph of mass consumption in every possible form.
Koons' sculpture Dolphin, which is in the Pinault Collection, was presented in 2009 during the exhibition "Un certain état du monde ?" (“A Certain State of the World?”) at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow.
Exhibitions

© Jeff Koons

© Jeff Koons
Photo : Roman Suslov
Exhibition view, Un Certain Etat du monde?, Garage CCC, Moscow, March 20 - June 14 2009.

© Jeff Koons
Photo : Roman Suslov
Exhibition view, Un Certain Etat du monde?, Garage CCC, Moscow, March 20 - June 14 2009.

© Jeff Koons
Photo : Laurent Lecat / Mucem
Exhibition view «Jeff Koons Mucem. Works from the Pinault Collection», Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem), Marseille, May 19th – October 18th, 2021.