Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons is one of the most celebrated and provocative artists of our time. His Gazing Ball series places mirror-finished cobalt blue spheres in dialogue with some of Western art's most iconic masterpieces — from Titian and Rubens to Renoir and Manet.

The reflective orb does something extraordinary: it pulls the viewer into the picture plane. Looking at the Gazing Ball works, you simultaneously see yourself reflected in the mirrored surface and the painting behind it. You become part of the composition, completing the circuit between the historical work and the present moment.

Koons creates his Gazing Ball paintings using artisans who meticulously recreate the original compositions in oil on canvas — works that are as painstakingly crafted as the originals. The addition of the sphere is both a gesture of homage and a provocation, asking what it means to look at art, to possess it, and to be transformed by it.

The series continues Koons' lifelong dialogue with consumer culture and aspiration. The gazing ball itself has a long history as an ornamental garden object, associated with beauty and fantasy. In Koons' hands, it becomes a portal — between past and present, between the viewer and the viewed.

Available through Guy Hepner, New York. To enquire about works from this exhibition, contact us directly.