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    Pop Art Porcelain

    Mega-artist Jeff Koons' balloon art floats into Dallas' Neiman Marcus

    Kendall Morgan
    kendall Morgan
    Jun 16, 2017 | 12:00 pm

    Love or hate the pop-art output of American artist Jeff Koons (and there seems to be no other reaction), the polarizing work of the so-called “King of Kitsch” is everywhere at the moment.

     

    Just a few years after his 2014 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (the largest survey the institution has devoted to a single artist), Koons’ giant inflatable ballerina can be found dressing up Rockefeller Center, his Louis Vuitton bag collaboration is adorning the shoulders of well-dressed women, and, now, his iconic balloon animals are appearing in the windows and glass vitrines of Neiman Marcus downtown.

     

    Part of a limited-edition collaboration with the 154-year-old porcelain house Bernardaud, Koons’ new range of balloon dogs on mirrored plates, as well as his balloon monkey, rabbit, and swan sculptures, are available exclusively through June 30 as table-sized versions of his amped-up aluminum originals.

     

    Totems of his ready-made approach to art, Koons’ oversized originals have already broken auction records — a 12-foot-tall Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million at Christie’s in 2013, at the time the highest auction price for a work by a living artist.

     

    The pieces from Bernardaud are (slightly) more affordable at $9,000 per plate and $9,500 per sculpture, with the the 9- to 11.5-inch smaller works allowing collectors to take home a candy-colored Koons made precisely to his specifications. Which is saying a lot, considering he’s one of the most particular talents in the contemporary art world.

     

    Having formerly collaborated with Bernardaud on a series of porcelain plates and cups inspired by his “Banality” series, as well as a vase in the style of his Split-Rocker sculpture, Koons was aware that the Limoges, France-based company had the technology to bring his work to life at the level he required.

     

    “I made a plate and they did a great job,” recalls the artist, who was recently in town to promote his work. “I wanted to remake my balloon dog plates [originally created for the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles], and I realized Bernardaud [would be] able to respect the form and the details.

     

    “I wanted to make something that would be more accessible to people because the stainless pieces weigh two-and-a-half tons, so it’s difficult for the average person to have space for them. I wanted to maintain the relevance and the profoundness of the idea and to put it in a form that would communicate its reason for being.”

     

    Although in the past, works like the 1988 sculpture Michael Jackson and Bubbles may have led the viewer to think the artist was pulling his or her leg, the opposite is true. There could be no one more sincere in his embrace of the banal or more willing to find the emotionality in seemingly ordinary figures and objects than Koons. He feels deeply for what each of his creations stand for, and the themes that inspire each work are headier than one might suspect.

     

    Comparing his crimson rabbit, a symbol of childhood, to “Nefertiti in an animal kind of form,” Koons also cites painter Francis Picabia as an inspiration for his bold blue monkey.

     

    “It’s kind of a chaotic aspect of Picabia. He made a piece called the Portrait of Cezanne and it references that all artists are a little bit like monkeys, not living up to their potential,” he laughs.
     
    Perhaps the pièce de résistance of the collection, his acid-yellow swan, was the work he labored over the longest. Inspired by his failed attempt to sculpt a swan as a child — he couldn’t get the neck quite right — it possesses both masculine and feminine qualities, from the phallic head and beak to the feminine base of its body.

     

    For the artisans at Bernardaud, creating these pieces to Koons’ specifications broke their creative mold.

     

    “Porcelain is perhaps one of the oldest activities of human beings in terms of crafting objects and manufacturing, but we have to treat it as something that is living,” says the company’s CEO, Michel Bernardaud, who has also collaborated with the likes of Marina Abramović, David Lynch, and Kara Walker.
     
    “This collaboration would be an opportunity to bring it even more in the standard of our time, plus the challenge was a major one. We could have done the same objects using our traditional techniques and that would probably been okay, but not okay for Jeff.”

     

    Koons, who was able to spot that one sample was a millimeter too high simply with his naked eye, says the idea of scale is the most crucial aspect to all of his works, no matter how large or small.

     

    “Plato would say it was the most important thing, as it all starts from there, and that has to do with the relation of the body. I think these pieces do have that idea at their base, and at the same time they have biology. If you look at the tip of the balloon rabbit’s nose or the monkey or the end of the bladder inside the swan, they relate to what it means to be human and how we kind of define ourselves in art history.”

     

    Limited to editions of 2,300 for the dog plates and 999 for the sculptures, the works will no doubt make their own historical mark for collectors, but for Koons, they’re metaphysical totems to an unbridled imagination that extends throughout every aspect of creation, from managing his 100-plus-strong artist studio to raising his eight children.

     

    “I’m always trying to be the best artist, the best human being, the best father and husband,” he says. “It’s a joy to wake up every day and to try and continue to become.”

    Artist Jeff Koons and the 154-year-old porcelain house Bernardaud are collaborating on a line of sculptures (shown here) and plates for Neiman Marcus, available through June 30.

    Jeff Koons
      
    Photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus
    Artist Jeff Koons and the 154-year-old porcelain house Bernardaud are collaborating on a line of sculptures (shown here) and plates for Neiman Marcus, available through June 30.
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    Theater Critic Picks

    From Wilde to 'The Wiz': 8 unmissable July shows in North Texas

    Lindsey Wilson
    Jul 2, 2025 | 10:18 am
    Second Thought Theatre presents Your Wife’s Dead Body
    Photo courtesy of Second Thought Theatre
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    Your instinct during the summer might be to hide out in an air-conditioned theater, and there are plenty of options to do exactly this month. But we would be remiss if we didn't remind you about a North Texas tradition: Shakespeare under the stars. Pack a picnic, bring a blanket, and watch The Bard (and this year Oscar Wilde) at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater with Shakespeare Dallas. Both shows opened in June, but continue through most of July.

    Here are eight shows local shows, listed in order of start date:

    The Importance of Being Earnest
    Shakespeare Dallas, through July 18 extended to July 26
    This witty romantic comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895, tells the story of two men who assume the identities of a fictional man named Ernest. This leads them to each fall in love and encounter an assortment of comical problems along the way.

    Othello
    Shakespeare Dallas, through July 20
    In this Shakespearean tragedy, Othello is at the peak of his powers: not only Venice's greatest general but also husband to the noble and beautiful Desdemona. But he does not know that in passing over his servant Iago for promotion, he has created a deadly but brilliant enemy. This production is set in an alternate-history version of the 1990s in which the Venetian empire is the predominant political, military, and economic power.

    King Kirby
    American Chronicle Theatre Co., July 4-12
    This is the story of Jack "King of Comics" Kirby. The play follows him from the tough Jewish ghetto of Hell’s Kitchen in New York, to the harrowing battlefields of Normandy during WWII, to tense Senate hearings in the 1950s. Watch as he creates some of the most iconic heroes in pop culture: Captain America, Thor, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the New Gods, and countless others.

    Your Wife’s Dead Body
    Second Thought Theatre, July 9-26
    Written by Second Though Theatre artistic associate Jenny Ledel in her playwriting premiere, the play takes place in the near future, as Jane takes advantage of a new AI technology that would extend her lifespan ... even if she's not around to see it for herself.

    The Wiz
    Broadway at the Bass, July 15-20
    This all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical returns “home” in an all-new pre-Broadway tour, the first one in 40 years. The groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway, from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping '70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world.

    Noises Off
    Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas, July 18-August 2
    This play-within-a-play captures a touring theater troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run. Playwright Michael Frayn gives a window into the inner workings of theatre behind-the-scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance.

    Everybody's Talking About Jamie
    Uptown Players, July 18-August 3
    Inspired by true events, this musical tells the inspiring story of Jamie New, a 16-year-old boy from Sheffield who dreams of becoming a drag queen. His loving mom showers him with endless support but it's not all rainbows for Jamie as his deadbeat dad and some ignorant school kids attempt to rain on his sensational aspirations.

    Shucked
    Broadway at the Bass, July 29-August 3
    This Tony Award-winning musical comedy features a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn, a score by the Grammy Award-winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and direction by Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien. The corn-fed, corn-bred American musical is sure to satisfy an appetite for great musical theater.

    broadway at the bassmusicalsnational tourplayssecond thought theatreuptown playersshakespeare under starsshakespeare in the parktheater
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