Jeff Koons' "Pink Panther" could fetch $30 million in Sotheby's auction
Pink Panther from 1988 will be offered In New York on May 10, 2011.
黑料不打烊
Mar 09, 2011
Pink Panther from 1988 will be offered In New York on 10 May 2011聽
On the evening of 10 May 2011, Sotheby鈥檚 will offer one of the most important works by Jeff Koons ever to have appeared at auction. Pink Panther from 1988 draws on many of the themes that have come to define Koons鈥� output and stands as one of the outstanding achievements of his illustrious career. The porcelain sculpture is the artist鈥檚 proof from an edition of three with the other examples in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and a prominent private American collection, and belongs to the artist鈥檚 iconic 聽Banality series that includes 聽Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 聽Bear and Policeman and 聽Ushering in Banality. Pink Panther 聽will appear on the front and back covers of the 聽sale catalogue for the spring Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York and is estimated to fetch $20/30 million*. 聽
鈥淭ogether with Balloon Dog and Bunny, Pink Panther is a 20th-century masterpiece and one of the most iconic聽sculptures of Jeff Koons鈥檚 oeuvre,鈥� commented Tobias Meyer, Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art at 聽Sotheby鈥檚.
Representing the highest tier of 聽Jeff Koons鈥� artistic achievement, 聽Pink Panther is immediately identifiable as a聽masterpiece not only of the artist鈥檚 historic canon, but also of the epoch of recent Contemporary Art. 聽It conflates聽the classic themes that define the artist鈥檚 output - materiality and artificiality, eroticism and naivety, popular culture聽and rarefied elitism 鈥� and is the model expression of one of the most innovative and influential artists of our times. 聽Initially unveiled at Koons鈥� seminal show Banality, held at the Sonnabend Gallery, New York in 1988, Pink Panther聽has been emblematic of this remarkable series ever since, which is itself regarded as a landmark of Koons鈥� oeuvre. 聽
In Pink Panther, the display of the woman鈥檚 semi-naked body is sensual. However, with the bizarrely incongruous聽cuddly Pink Panther toy clinging to this literal embodiment of carnal desire, Koons strikes an outrageous contrast聽between the competing powers of adult and childhood associations. Although the Pink Panther cartoon character聽was initially created by Hawley Pratt for the opening sequence of the eponymous 1963 film starring Peter Sellers聽as the bungling Inspector Clouseau, it was only after becoming the protagonist of its own 1960s television show聽that it entered the mainstream consciousness as a contemporary Pop icon. 聽
The artist鈥檚 painstaking selection of media is central to the conceptual project, contributing directly to the聽importance of the work. 聽The terms of its execution are flawless: the contrasting textures of the porcelain surfaces聽are rendered in dazzlingly vivid colours that reinforce 聽the object鈥檚 artificiality, while the transparent glazes聽simultaneously evoke the fragility of thin glass and the ethereal nature of a reflective liquid.
