We want to make the world’s leading art accessible and enjoyable as T-shirts. Based on this concept, UT has collaborated with numerous artists to date. Our newest collaboration partner is Jeff Koons. Koons is an artist who continues to create groundbreaking art and is considered one of the greatest contemporary artists. The special collection includes sweatshirts and T-shirts featuring some of the most iconic artworks by Jeff Koons, who is always making a striking impression on the art scene.
Jeff Koons, a leading figure in contemporary art, has collaborated with UT after much anticipation.
Jeff Koons is considered one of the most important, influential, and controversial figures in the contemporary art world due to the immense power of each of his artworks. Since the late 1970s, Koons has made a name for himself as an artist, creating artworks that reflects his intention to “communicate with the masses”, such as Rabbit (1986)—a stainless steel sculpture of an inflatable bunny—and Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988)—a nearly life-size porcelain sculpture of the famous pop star with his pet chimpanzee. His subject matter focuses on everyday objects, such as toys and popular imagery, and sculptures are often large-scale with shiny, reflective surfaces to create a completely different image. Koons is constantly in the spotlight in the art world, often breaking records for exhibition attendance and sales at auction. His retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2014 drew the largest number of visitors the museum had ever seen. Koons is also active in charity work and other philanthropic activities. To celebrate the opening of Koons’s upcoming solo exhibition at Qatar Museums in Doha, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of this project will benefit the Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
For this collection, five of Koons’s iconic works were selected to be included on both T-shirts and sweatshirts. The body color of each work is basic and unified, directly conveying the dynamism of his artwork. Be sure to check out how the five works featured in this collection were incorporated into the sweatshirts and T-shirts.
‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’
Jeff Koons, ‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’, 1994‒2000. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Tom Powel Imaging, Courtesy of Mnuchin Gallery, New York. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’, 1994-2000, an iconic work within Jeff Koons’s highly acclaimed Celebration series, has a mythic and ritualistic quality. Standing over ten-feet tall, its flawless stainless steel surface reflects its surroundings, positioning the viewer in the work. Its vast size, mesmerizing color, and majestic surface draw on the concept of the sublime.
‘Balloon Dog’ from the Celebration series is one of the best-known sculptures in the world. A silhouette of the sculpture is layered to create a three-dimensional effect behind the image of ‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’, which is printed with a glossy finish as a reference to the smooth reflective surface of the original work. JEFF KOONS is printed on the pocket of the sweatshirt.
The T-shirt features ‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’ with a glossy finish. On the back of the T-shirt is a simple graphic of Balloon Dog, creating contrast with the front.
‘Rabbit’
Jeff Koons, ‘Rabbit’, 1986. © Jeff Koons, In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Jeff Koons’s ’Rabbit’, 1986, has become one of the most iconic works of 20th-century art. From the Statuary series, the sculpture celebrates Minimalism with its timeless shape and immaculate shiny surface. Following the Duchampian tradition of the ready-made, Koons transforms an inflatable toy rabbit into stainless steel, giving it a chameleon quality and open to a wide range of interpretations. The metallic surface reflects and distorts the environment both engaging and affirming the viewers.
‘Rabbit’ is a masterpiece by Jeff Koons and currently commands the highest price for a work at auction for by a living artist. A silhouette of ‘Rabbit’ and JEFF KOONS are printed in silver on the front. The design on the back is a bold image of the work.
Printing on a black background for the T-shirt makes the image pop, and the design conveys the material, texture, and shape of this timeless sculpture.
‘Play-Doh’
Jeff Koons, ‘Play-Doh’, 1994‒2014. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Tom Powel Imaging. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Standing over 10 feet (3.15 meters) tall, ‘Play-Doh’, 1994-2014, is a monumental multi-colored sculpture from Koons’s Celebration series. The hyperrealistic sculpture consists of twenty-four interlocking pieces of aluminum that weighs over 5 tons (4.5 metric tons) and required two decades of fabrication. The towering work, inspired by a colorful mound of Play-Doh made by one of the artist’s children, exudes awe and wonderment and captures the raw energy of creation.
‘Play-Doh’, a sculpture that pays homage to values such as creativity and joy, is based on a popular children’s toy formed into a colorful mound. For this sweatshirt, an image of the sculpture is placed on the front alongside JEFF KOONS in black print for a bright, energetic design.
‘Seated Ballerina’
Jeff Koons, ‘Seated Ballerina’, 2010-2015.© Jeff Koons, Photo: © 2017 Fredrik Nilsen, Courtesy Gagosian. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
‘Seated Ballerina ', 2010-2015, is from Koons’s Antiquity series that explores the themes for fertility, beauty, and life energy through the ages. Derived from a small porcelain figurine, the artist reimagines the work on the scale of a monumental sculpture in stainless steel in transparent color gradations. Its reflective surface celebrates abstraction.
‘Seated Ballerina' is famous for having been displayed at Rockefeller Center in New York as a large-scale inflatable. An image of the mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture is combined with JEFF KOONS in a vibrant color for the UNIQLO design. It celebrates beauty and connectivity for unisex appeal.
‘Gazing Ball(Standing Woman)’
Jeff Koons, ‘Gazing Ball (Standing Woman)’, 2014. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Rebecca Fanuele, Courtesy Almine Rech. In collaboration with Dadu Children’s Museum of Qatar.
In ‘Gazing Ball (Standing Woman)’, 2014, Jeff Koons’s depicts a plaster cast of a Greco-Roman standing woman with a hand-blown blue glass gazing ball that sits on her right shoulder. The mirrored glass ball takes on a metaphysical power as it reflects the environment, affirms one’s existence, and offers the means to find transcendence. The work celebrates the notion of artistic dialogue and connectivity.
‘Gazing Ball (Standing Woman)’ is a sculpture that combines a plaster cast with a blue glass gazing ball, an image of the work is printed on a white background. On the front, the blue gazing ball is incorporated into the artist’s last name to create a connection with the work, while for the back, the artwork is simply placed in the center.
The collaboration is not limited to the joint development of UT products. In cooperation with Jeff’s philanthropic activities, a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar, which is scheduled to open in Qatar this fall. You can enjoy the special experience of not only feeling the joy of wearing Jeff’s art but also knowing that you are contributing to the artist’s philanthropic work.
PROFILE
Born in 1955, in York, Pennsylvania, Jeff Koons is a contemporary artist based in New York. Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, his works have been exhibited in major museums, galleries, and cultural institutions around the world, including Rockefeller Center, the Palace of Versailles, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. He has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his cultural achievements. Koons is also known as a philanthropist; over the last four decades he has been involved with many causes while also serving on the board of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
Jeff Koons, ‘Balloon Dog (Orange)’, 1994‒2000. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Tom Powel Imaging, Courtesy of Mnuchin Gallery, New York. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Jeff Koons, ‘Rabbit’, 1986. © Jeff Koons, In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Jeff Koons, ‘Play-Doh’, 1994‒2014. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Tom Powel Imaging. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Jeff Koons, ‘Gazing Ball (Standing Woman)’, 2014. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Rebecca Fanuele, Courtesy Almine Rech. In collaboration with Dadu Children’s Museum of Qatar.
Jeff Koons, ‘Seated Ballerina’, 2010-2015. © Jeff Koons, Photo: © 2017 Fredrik Nilsen, Courtesy Gagosian. In collaboration with Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar.
