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JEFF KOONS, Ice Bucket, 1986

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Ice Bucket, 1986
Stainless steel. 9 1/4 x 7 x 12 in. (23.5 x 17.8 x 30.5 cm). This work if form an edition of three plus one artist's proof.

PROVENANCE Sonnabend Gallery, New York; Private collection, Europe
EXHIBITED London, Faggionato Fine Arts, Object/Sculpture/Object, October 9 - November 24, 2000; London, Gimpel Fils, The (Ideal) Home Show, July 11 -September 8, 2001; New York, Dickinson Roundell Inc., Aftershock: The Legacy of the Readymade in Post-War and Contemporary American Art, May 5 - June 20, 2003  
LITERATURE R. Rosenblum, ed., The Jeff Koons Handbook, London/New York, 1992, p. 157; A. Muthesius, Jeff Koons, Cologne, 1992, no. 14, p. 77 (illustrated); Dickinson Roundell, Inc., ed., Aftershock: The Legacy of the Readymade in Post-War and Contemporary American Art, New York, p. 87 (illustrated)

The present lot from the series Luxury and Degradation reveals Jeff Koons's ability to transform an otherwise banal common object into a sharp witted social critique. At first glance the ice bucket—an object most commonly found in any standard hotel (and even motel) room—holds no visual significance. However, with minimal implications Koons yields an abstraction that forces the viewer to think about the underlying function of the ice bucket. Cast in stainless steel and polished to mirror-like finish the ice bucket gives off a resonanceof opulence and wealth. One cannot help but mistake the work for being cast in pure silver. Its association to alcohol radiates allusions of glamorous cocktail parties the earthly pleasures thereof. Yet, at its core function the object is simply designed to contain ice. "I wanted to show how luxury and abstraction are used to debase people and take away their economic and political power," (A. Muthesius, ed., Jeff Koons, Cologne, 1992, p. 21).  

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