Carving his place

Pop artist Jeff Koons and sculptures coming to Tel Aviv

The influential sculptor will open an exhibit of his work at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in March

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Hulk Rock by Jeff Koons will be on display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art from March 2020 (Courtesy Tom Powel)
Hulk Rock by Jeff Koons will be on display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art from March 2020 (Courtesy Tom Powel)

Jeff Koons, an American artist known for his pop art sculptures depicting everyday objects from balloon animals to teddy bears, is coming to Tel Aviv Museum of Art, with a collection of his works that will be displayed from March 10 through October 10, 2020.

It’s the first time that the works of Koons, one of the world’s most influential sculptors, are being presented in Israel.

Koons will attend the opening of the exhibition.

The exhibit will present major works of art from different parts of Koons’s career, from the 1980s through the present, including “Bear and Policeman,” “Monkeys,” “Donkey,” “Beach” and “Hulk Rock.”

Famed American sculptor Jeff Koons (Courtesy Tel Aviv Museum of Art)

The American-born artist from Pennsylvania is considered one of the most influential in pop-art history, and his works have broken records for the amounts paid for them by collectors.

The Koons show at the museum will be called “Absolute Value,” based on the mathematical term and its relationship to the prices paid for Koons’s works.

The works that will come to Tel Aviv are from the Mugrabi collection, owned by the Mugrabi family, one of the wealthiest families in the art world.

Jeff Koons’s ‘Bear and Policeman 1988’ will be on display at The Tel Aviv Museum of Art in March 2020 (Courtesy Jeff Koons)

The head of the family, Jose Mugrabi, emigrated to Colombia from Jerusalem in 1955 and made a fortune in textiles. After moving to the US in the 1980s, Mugrabi turned to the art market.

The family’s collection includes works by Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons.

In 2013, Mugrabi set a record for the most expensive work by a living artist, when he paid $58.4 million for Koons’s “Balloon Dog (Orange)” at a Christie’s auction.

Most Popular
read more: