"If you can say it... Why paint it?" A review of the key concepts of Contemporary Art

Did you read the contemporary art news recently? Ever heard about Jeff Koons? Well Jeff Koons is responsible of the production of the most expensive piece by a living artist ever auctioned. How much? $23.6 million... A sculpture of a stainless steel heart hanging from a golden bow. The previous record for a living artist was Damien Hirst's "Lullaby Spring," which sold for $19.5 million last June at Sotheby's in London . Hirst's piece was a stainless steel cabinet containing 6,136 handcrafted and painted pills.

The Koons work was bought by the Gagosian Gallery, "Hanging Heart," nearly 9 feet tall and weighing more than 3,500 pounds, is from Koons' "Celebration" series, inspired by celebratory milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries.

Yes Koons rules... But why? "This is just ridiculous" I hear from my left... "I do not care from the right"... Fair enough, I will give a small explanation anyway:

Koons belongs to a generation of artists that (we thought...) knew their pick of popularity in the 80's. Such as Hirst mentioned above or Maurizio Cattelan he offered to the world a new medium of art: After the Canvas, the Sculpture, the performance the ready-made, the Installation... they used the Market!!!

The Challenge was, once this new medium discovered was to manipulate it and to exercise its full possibilities. Jeff Koons technique is based on highlighting 'banalities' (a name of one of his best series): Hoover enlightened by neon, giant balloon-dog or kitsch porcelain sculptures of Michael Jackson; Koons wants to understand why and how products of mass consumption are glorified.

To simplify it places him between Marcel Duchamp (the ready-made influence: well-known for the masterpiece fountain... an urinal which tells so much about the art market) and Andy Warhol (the pop culture and critique of the mass consumption); but Koons artworks are not ellitists and he would like to talk about things that everybody can recognise easily.

He was a pioneer and still is... was really controversial by being the first artist cultivating his image by employing image consultants... This guy married the ultra-kitsch porn star Ilona Staller!!!!

In conclusion hanging heart costs $23.6 million and this price is part of what the artwork meaning if you still follow. Got it? It talks about the ridiculous price that people can spend in 'banalities' and it speaks pretty loud don't you think so?