Jeff Koons, presented by BMW

Talk Art HOLIDAYS SPECIAL!!! This very special episode was recorded from Pace Gallery, New York!!! We are proud to collaborate again with BMW to bring you a conversation with iconic artist Jeff Koons. 

We discuss Jeff's passion for art which he discovered at an early age, we discuss his student years in Chicago and working for Ed Paschke, whose technicolor renderings of superheroes and other pop icons were an early source of inspiration. We learn of Koons’s first job at the Museum of Modern Art, and his first major works that invoked commodity fetishism: titled The New, they comprised vacuum cleaners displayed on or in Plexiglas boxes over grids of fluorescent light. We explore why he chose stainless steel and reflective surfaces within his most celebrated sculptures and how art can truly change lives.

Jeff Koons’ latest collaboration with BMW is THE 8 X JEFF KOONS, a hand-painted limited interpretation of a BMW M850i xDrive. The special edition BMW will debut in spring, but we met with Koons to discuss how and why this exclusive vehicle came into being. And as we soon learned: It’s about more than just the car. The 8 Series Gran Coupe will be for sale in a limited collector’s edition after its world premiere at Frieze Los Angeles in February 2022.

In 2010, Koons created a unique BMW M3 GT2 Art Car which performed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The Koons BMW M3 GT2 is now part of the BMW Art Car collection (➜ Read also: The history of BMW Art Cars), placing the artist in the same category as fellow BMW Art Car creators like Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, and David Hockney, to name a few.

That same year, the rock singer Bono from U2 wrote in an editorial for the New York Times that Jeff Koons should have a part in designing the car of the future. BMW and Koons continued the conversation and are now proud to announce their latest collaboration at the invitation of Angelika Nollert, director of Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne.

Follow @JeffKoons and @PaceGallery for more information. Visit http://www.jeffkoons.com/ and for more information on his new car with BMW: https://www.bmw.com/en/design/bmw-8-x-jeff-koons.html

Special thanks to @BMWUK and @BMWGroupCulture for this extraordinary trip to see such inspiring art! And happy birthday to @BMWGroupCulture for 50 years of cultural engagement. We can’t wait to see more exciting projects in the new year… Thanks for listening everyone!! Have a wonderful holidays... see you for more Talk Art adventures in 2022!!!!

For images of all artworks discussed in this episode visit @TalkArt. Talk Art theme music by Jack Northover @JackNorthoverMusic courtesy of HowlTown.com We've just joined Twitter too @TalkArt. If you've enjoyed this episode PLEASE leave us your feedback and maybe 5 stars if we're worthy in the Apple Podcast store. For all requests, please email [email protected]

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