''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' is a porcelain

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

(42 x 70.5 x 32.5 in) by the American artist

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

. It was created in 1988 within the framework of his ''Banality'' series.

Description

The life-size

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

sculpture depicts the American singer-songwriter

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

leaning back on a flower bed. On his lap reclines his domesticated

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

Bubbles who clasps a white cloth. Jackson and his pet form an optical unit. They wear similar clothing, are colored homogeneously and parts of their bodies are paralleled with each other, such as Jackson's right hand and Bubbles' paw. The sculpture has been arranged in a triangular and multi-perspective composition.

Sculpture

Bubbles was Jackson's domestic animal who was bought by the artist from a Texas research facility in 1983. It has been claimed by the media that he was Jackson's best and faithful friend who even joined the singer on his world tours and helped in the household. Jeff Koons used a press photo of Jackson and Bubbles as a template for his sculpture. It is almost identical to the artist's work except for a slight variation of the posture. Koons changed Jackson's direction of view and thus adjusted the composition to the requirements of a sculptural work which has to take into account many different viewing angles. At the time the sculpture was created, Jackson had already become a world-famous performer. Having achieved a sales record with his album ''

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored troll ...

'', he was at the pinnacle of his career. Koons artwork can be read as a comment on the great media interest that has been directed at Jackson's life as musician and as a private person.''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' – interactive feature (October 2000)
. Website of the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

. Retrieved April 1, 2013. Three of the ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' sculpture were made. One was sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

on 15 May 2001, when it was auctioned off to the record price of 5.6 million dollars.''Jackson sculpture breaks record''
article on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

(May 16, 2001). Retrieved April 1, 2013. The artist's proof is owned by the Broad Art Foundation of businessman and art collector

Eli Broad Eli Broad ( ; June 6, 1933April 30, 2021) was an American businessman and philanthropist. In June 2019, ''Forbes'' ranked him as the 233rd-wealthiest person in the world and the 78th-wealthiest in the United States, with an estimated net worth of ...

and is displayed in the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

(It is now at The Broad Museum in Downtown Los Angeles). The two other versions are in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in the

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is a privately owned contemporary art gallery in Oslo in Norway. It was founded and opened to the public in 1993. The collection's main focus is the American appropriation artists from the 1980s, but it is ...

and in the

Interpretation

Jeff Koons has stated that his works of art should reach the largest possible audience. For this purpose he sought inspiration in entertainment media,

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...

and

Christian art Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative ...

. The depiction of a media effective person like Michael Jackson might have helped him to achieve this aim. In the 1980s, which were characterized by a new

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...

and

media culture In cultural studies, media culture refers to the current Western capitalist society that emerged and developed from the 20th century, under the influence of mass media. The term alludes to the overall impact and intellectual guidance exerted by t ...

, Jackson enjoyed an enormous chart success and became a

pop icon A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

. Koons now overemphasized the

King of Pop Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

's icon-like manner paralleling him with Christian icons. The artist once said about the sculpture: Koons has stated that he was also inspired by the triangular composition of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's ''

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

''. Furthermore, the work's material reminds of catholic mass-produced figures of

saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...

which are usually manufactured in

and

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

. Thus the sculpture becomes a kitschy object that is appealing for a wide public and the art market. Koons claims that he wanted to depict Jackson as a new redemptive figure who enables people to discover their own cultural

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

. ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' has also been read as a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

of the human desire for self-discovery. Jackson demonstrated publicly his childlike personality and tried to reinvent himself by means of

plastic surgery Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...

. Koons was fascinated by the self transformations of Jackson and the way he played with images such as himself against Bubbles.

Reception in fine arts

The American artist

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued ...

created some sculptures relating to ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' by Jeff Koons, e.g. ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles (Gold)'' from 1997 to 1999 (today in the Christian Flick Collection) or ''Michael Jackson Fucked Up (Big Head)'' from 2002.

Exhibitions

In 2012 the

Liebieghaus The Liebieghaus is a late 19th-century villa in Frankfurt, Germany. It contains a sculpture museum, the ''Städtische Galerie Liebieghaus'', which is part of the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. Max Hollein was the direc ...

in Frankfurt attracted attention displaying ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles'' next to Egyptian

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

and thus established an aesthetic and ironic dialogue between the objects.Website of the ''Liebieghaus'' in Frankfurt
Retrieved on April 2, 2013.

References

Bibliography

Vinzenz Brinkmann Vinzenz Brinkmann (born 1958 in Göttingen) is a German classical archaeologist. Life Brinkmann grew up in Gauting, southwest of Munich, and studied Classical Archeology in Munich and Athens. In 1987 he earned his doctorate under Volkmar von ...

, Jeff Koons – ''The Sculptor''. Exh. Cat. "Jeff Koons, the Painter & the Sculptor", Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 20 June - 23 September 2012, Ostfildern 2012.

External links

Image ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles''
. Retrieved on July 18, 2020.
Press photo of ''Michael Jackson and Bubbles''Interview with Jeff Koons by Farah Nayeri, June 30, 2009
on

Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...

. Retrieved on July 18, 2020. {{Michael Jackson 1988 sculptures Sculptures by Jeff Koons Contemporary works of art Cultural depictions of Michael Jackson Porcelain sculptures Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Chimpanzees in art Collections of the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art Collection of The Broad