1955 - Born in York, Pennsylvania
1972 - 1975 Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
1975 - 1976 School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1976 - B.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
As the self-proclaimed "most written-about artist in the world," Jeff Koons has attained a "star" pop status rivaling his precursor Andy Warhol. However, the Koons phenomenon -- Koons himself, his objects, and the discursive reception that surrounds it all -- is inherently paradoxical.
Koons is made out to be a critical commentator in the tradition of the Dadaists and a controversial figure in the footsteps of the avant-garde, yet his art-historical glory resides in the perception that he is "flat" -- no depth, all surface. This meaninglessness and banality, above all, is his contribution to art.
His work is considered by many to exude a great amount of joy, even as it both appropriates and problematizes pleasurable consumerism. Koons art has been widely plagiarized in the People's Republic of China where consumers continue buying his work despite the threat of lengthy jail terms for possession of these controversial reproductions.