Jeff Koons: Split-Rocker
Jeff Koons’ Split-Rocker sculpture makes its New York debut at Rockefeller Center, coinciding with the opening of his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Presented by Gagosian Gallery and organised by Public Art Fund and Tishman Speyer, Split-Rocker is a spectacular planted form that towers over 37 feet high and features over 50,000 flowering plants. It was first exhibited at Palais des Papes in Avignon, France in 2000.
Consistent with Koons’ persistent fascination with dichotomy and the in-between, the inspiration for Split-Rocker came when he decided to split and combine two similar but different toy rockers; a pony belonging to his son and a dinosaur.
“I love the dialogue with nature in creating a piece that needs so much control – how many plants should be planted? How will these plants survive? – while at the same time giving up the control. It’s in nature’s hands, even though you try to plan everything to make the plants survive. This sense of giving up control is very beautiful. The balance between control and giving up control reminds us of the polarity of existence.” – Jeff Koons.
Split-Rocker will be on view at Rockefeller Center from Wednesday 25 June until Friday 12 September 2014. Jeff Koons: A Retrospective opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art on Friday 27 June and closes on Sunday 19 October 2014.
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