"We are balloons. If you take a breath and inhale, it's optimism. You exhale, and it's kind of a symbol of death."
Jeff Koons studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, receiving a BFA from the former in 1976.
Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, Koons's work has been showcased in major galleries and institutions worldwide. Notable exhibitions include his Celebration sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The Château de Versailles hosted Jeff Koons: Versailles, featuring his works in the Grand Apartments.
The Whitney Museum of American Art presented a comprehensive survey of his career, Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, which traveled to the Pompidou Centre Paris and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Koons is renowned for his public sculptures, such as the monumental floral Puppy (1992), permanently installed at the Guggenheim Bilbao, and Split-Rocker (2000), displayed at the Papal Palace in Avignon, Château de Versailles, and Fondation Beyeler Basel. He has received numerous awards, including the Governor’s Awards for the Arts “Distinguished Arts Award” from Pennsylvania and Officier de la Legion d’Honneur from President Jacques Chirac. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton honored Koons with the State Department’s Medal of the Arts for his commitment to the Art in Embassies Program. Koons has been a board member of The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) since 2002 and co-founded the Koons Family International Law and Policy Institute to combat child abduction and exploitation.