Thursday, October 14, 2010

Roberta Smith on Jeff Koons' art of simulated sex



Roberta Smith's biting, emasculating, but insightful take on Jeff Koons art of simulated sex with Cicciolina contains great gems such as:

"Typical of the lowest common denominator of heterosexual convention, it is Cicciolina who does most of the gussying..."

and

"The innocence of the child is replaced by the cluelessness of the man, one who confuses posing and empty exhibitionism with emotional vulnerability."

3 comments:

Avery Cassell said...

Those are terrific quotes. I have always found much of Koons' work infantile and seminal in the worst way, and Roberta's review said it all so well.

Susan said...

'Seminal'is another great word too. Not often used for women artists though.

Scott Andrews said...

Smith, who writes well about art, indicates a problem with Koons not being gussied up for the images and that being typical of pornography geared toward men. So why can't this be a strength of his "Made in Heaven" series? Koons could be acknowledging the audience dynamics of pornography. The male actor can be a cypher because he is intended to be a blank screen onto which a male viewer projects himself in order to better imagine having sex with the actress.