| Artist: | Jeff Koons |
|
|---|---|---|
| Title: | One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank | |
| Date: | 1985 | |
| Nationality: | American | |
| Context: | Postmodernism | |
| Movement: | Neo-Pop Art | |
| Materials: | sculpture, water tank with basketball | |
| Subject: Equilibrium show, aquarium tanks filled with water displaying basketballs suspended midway or half-immersed (baptism? fetuses?) My work is very involved with the tragedy of unachievable states of being, a floating state that cannot be sustained; the difficulty of maintaining one's psychic equilibrium (orbalance) in a commodity-oriented world. Style: uses the strategy of withholding--the suspended basketballs sealed in an aquarium beyond reach,unachievable; the tanks were only part of the show, which also included bronze floating devices (which would clearly sink; see Aqualung) and posters of basketball stars who had sold-out for commercial endorsements (see Dr. Dunklestein). Context: late capitalistic, consumer-oriented society,the hyperreal in which people are packaged and hyped to create false auras, artificial values; contemporary vanitas imagery that suggests the difficulty of maintaining one's equilibrium in terms of setting moral values. | ||
