Jeff Koons - Contemporary Evening Sale London Sunday, July 5, 2009 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Sonnabend Gallery, New York; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York;

  • Exhibited

    Paris, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Jeff Koons, September 30 - November 29, 1997 (another example exhibited); Oslo, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Jeff Koons Retrospective, 4 September – 12 December, 2004 (another example exhibited); Helsinki City Art Museum, Jeff Koons: Retrospective, January 28 – April 10, 2005 (another example exhibited) 

  • Literature

    A. Muthesius, ed., Jeff Koons, Cologne, 1992 (illustrated); R. Rosenblum, J. Koons, The Jeff Koons Handbook, London, 1992, p. 158 (illustrated); Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Jeff Koons, Paris, 1997, n.p. (illustrated); M. Woltmann, Jeff Koons Retrospective, Oslo, 2004, p. 58 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    Executed in 1986, Mermaid Troll is a depiction of two mythological figures fused as one. The artist has chosen to strip “her” of all suggestions and innuendo, endowing the work with caricatured features resulting in an asexually comical effect. Koons presents this solid stainless steel sculpture to imitate silver. Similar to the Luxury and degradation series and created the same year, the statuary series in which Mermaid Troll belongs, offers a panorama of society. The sculptures all made of stainless steel, drawn from a range of art historical themes and sources from the bust of French King Louis XIV; to an inflatable toy rabbit; to mermaid troll. For Koons, stainless steel simulates the economy security of luxurious objects. According to the artist, polished objects have often been displayed by the church and the wealthy to set the stage for spiritual enlightenment and material security. Because Koons aims to address the entire social spectrum with his art, he uses the distinctly democratic material of stainless steel rather than bronze or gold, which historically have been materials associated with the elite social classes.

18

Mermaid Troll

1986
Stainless steel.
52.1 x 24.1 x 24.1 cm. (20 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in).
Incised with foundry details '© ALFCO-NY' along the base. This work is from an edition of three plus one artist's proof.

Estimate
£250,000 - 350,000 

Sold for £241,250

Contemporary Evening Sale

29 June 2009, 7pm
London