Gagosian attends TEFAF Online New York 2020 with a special presentation of Jeff Koons' Cherubs (1991).
Cherubs, a polychrome wood wall sculpture, forms a key part of Koons' renowned Made in Heaven series (1989-91) and fuses his investigation of kitschy aesthetics and commodity culture with a reverence for baroque craftsmanship – it is was carved by craftsmen from the Bavarian village of Oberammergau. In the work, the pastel-coloured and flower-adorned busts of two angelic putti echo the rich gilding and ornamentation associated with Counter-Reformation ecclesiastical interiors. In an update for the modern era that also alludes to other works by Koons, a teddy bear is nestled between the fluttering wings of the upper figure. Referencing the rococo visions of Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher, and evoking the leaping figures of Cupid or Eros, Cherubs combines the religious and the sensual, juxtaposing divergent conceptions of taste and value.
A new essay on Cherubs by art historian Sydney Stutterheim and an associated video are published below and on the TEFAF website to accompany the presentation.
Despite its sentimental, almost saccharine edge, tension abounds in Jeff Koons' provocative and important mural sculpture Cherubs (1991). An essential work from the artist's renowned Made in Heaven series (1989-91), the work consists of two whimsical cherub figures, each filled with multiple golden wings and rendered in delicate pastel tones. Truncated at the bust, they float eerily in mid-air as if occupying the otherworldly realm to which these angels typically belong. Drawing inspiration from art-historical depictions of celestial beings as allegorical representations of romantic love and religious dedication – as well as the ubiquitous contemporary reproductions of such images circulating in mass culture – Koons deftly negotiates the contradictions and continuities between consumerism, desire and sacred devotion in his multipurpose cherubs.
