Image Overview > 12 of 20

Born in York, Pennsylvania, Jeff Koons has been an active artist since 1976 and his work had been shown worldwide. Some of Koons's earlier jobs included selling memberships at MoMA and trading commodities on Wall Street.

What do you see here? Have you ever seen anything like this before?

Ordinary to Extraordinary
Along with the rabbit you see here, Jeff Koons’s work has included other familiar everyday objects such as vacuum cleaners, basketballs, and even a large-scale ceramic sculpture of Michael Jackson with his chimp Bubbles.

Koons said the following about the value of his work, "My objects, maybe not in a traditional sense art, last longer than you or myself. Maybe they’ll die off as art, but they are equipped to outsurvive us physically." ¹

• What do you think of when you look at Rabbit?
  
  
• Come up with five words to describe this work.
  
  
• If you saw Rabbit in a store, would you think it is art? Why or why not?

From Canvas to Candy
Cast from an inflatable plastic bunny, Koons's Rabbit is made of stainless steel. Stainless steel is resistant to rust and chemical damage. Because it has curves and has a shiny quality, when looking at Rabbit it’s possible to see your reflection as if you are looking into a funhouse mirror.

• Some other objects made of stainless steel include forks, knives, spoons, cooking pots, and other kitchen utensils. Can you think of other objects made of stainless steel? If so, where might you find these things?
  
  
• Imagine holding an inflatable plastic bunny. Now imagine holding Koons's Rabbit. How might you compare the two?
  
  
• In your opinion, would Rabbit be different if it was made out of another material (such as such as clay, stuffed cloth, plastic, or tinfoil)? Why or why not?

1. Robert Storr, On the Edge: Contemporary Art from the Werner and Elaine Dannheisser Collection (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1997), 76.