Jeff Koons Vacuum Cleaners
This piece by Jeff Koons makes me angry. Why? Because I could have made it.
Yes, that's the argument put forth by heathens, philistines, and dumbasses everywhere: "I could have done that" or, even more common, "My kid could have done that."
But, no. I'm not dismissing this as a work of art. I'm actually kinda angry precisely because I do recognize the beauty here and wish I would have come up with something like this.
These Hoover vacuum cleaners have a certain kind of minimal elegance in their lines and color schemes. In fact, I once owned a similar model—probably a few years older than the ones here, which are from the early '80s. Mine was a passalong from my parents when they got a new one. Its powerhead was a little differently shaped—more round, less angular—and lacked a light, but I'm certain it was an earlier version of this model.
When I lived at on Mississippi Street in Lawrence, Kansas, it was the vacuum my roommates and I used to clean up the place every week. I remember sitting on the couch one weekend, looking at the vacuum in the afternoon sun. The living room there got beautiful light and was so obscenely large that we didn't have enough furniture to fill it properly. The vacuum standing there in an empty corner looked especially sculptural, and I pulled out my camera and shot some photos of it.
I'll have to dig through my print photo archives and see if I still have the shots. As I remember, they're not very good.
Unfortunately, I lost the vacuum in a move. We were rushing to clean the house on the last day of our lease so we could get our deposit back. Because of that, I didn't put the vacuum on the truck, intending to throw it in the back of my car before heading out for the final time. And, yeah, I forgot to take the thing with me.
Of course, I went back later that night and found the vacuum was gone. The rental management company claimed they didn't see it. Bullshit. Someone somewhere has my cool, beautiful vacuum that doubled as a work of art.
Comments and faves
eliotwright (34 months ago | reply)
Jeff Koons... yup adding to the history of the 'Readymade' in art. Marcel Duchamp came up with this idea, but Koon's is really monopolizing on it. Effectively however, he is and was an excellent businessman.
Укларочить | alien images added this photo to his favorites. (32 months ago)