Jeff Koons
American, 1955
Koons is one of the world’s most influential artists, known for creating such icons as Rabbit, Puppy and Balloon Dog. In 2014 his work was the subject of a major exhibition organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. His public sculptures have captivated audiences at Rockefeller Center in New York, Château de Versailles, the Papal Palace in Avignon, and the Guggenheim Bilbao. Koons is an Officer of the Legion d’Honneur, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Royal Academician, and holds honorary doctorates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, D.C. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the artist with the State Department’s Medal of the Arts. Among his many philanthropic activities, Koons is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), and he and his wife, Justine, are the co-founders of the Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy, an initiative of ICMEC.
“From the time I was a child, art gave me a sense of self, and automatically I wanted to share that with the audience around me: my family, my community and, as I became older, my country. As I became an international artist, I wanted to share that culturally across different borders. I am thrilled to be working with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. This gives me an opportunity to have a cultural exchange going in both directions, to both share American values and to learn about other values that are held internationally.”
© Jeff Koons. Photo by Chris Fanning
