Robert Gober was born in 1954 and represented United States in Venice Biennale i.e. in 2001 as a one person art exhibitionist in the contemporary art museum in Los Angeles. His meticulously created sculptures explore human sexuality, relationships, as well as, religion. Most of his work is based on the childhood memories he had together with the influence he receives from his surroundings which include his home or even the studio. His work is well crafted by hand in his studio and they include among others large sized room installations which at times incorporates theatrical and water lighting. While he is widely known for his sculptures, he has also made prints photographs together with curated exhibitions.(Krypton, 132)
Jeffery Koons on the other hand was born in 1955 and is widely known as an American artist with a speciality in production of banal objects like balloon animals made using stainless steel.(Jason Farago, 99) His works have sold for a substantial sum of money with one scooping the world record as the most expensive work by an artist. However, in spite of all these achievements, critics have divergent opinions of Koons works. Some view his work as pioneering and a great historical work while others see it as kitsch i.e. based on self-merchandizing elements. Koon has maintained that there exists no hidden agendum in his works. The following article will thus seek to find the different takes which both Gober and Koons have on sex.
His idea of configuring intimate moments with his wife implicitly intrigues the idea of holiness and profane. This notion runs parallel to his debate on what exactly exactly constitutes his created sexual images. ‘Made in Heaven’ late became one of Koons’ complex subversions based on aesthetics as a result of transforming pornography into a kitsch.
This generally allowed visitors to understand his diverse outputs in the multifaceted whole.
Robert Gober on the other hand is celebrated for introducing restaged shows during the period which AIDS was a major crisis. This was the period which there was a deficiency in utility and the inability to clean oneself of the HIV pandemic. Gober suggested that like gravestones, impending deaths were implied by the sinks of which many individual lives were taken as a result of irresponsible sexual intimacy. Robert Gober continued to bombard his audience with questions regarding sex, politics, as well as, civil rights. He organized a gallery of wallpapers which featured patterns of a white man lynching and lying serenely in order to illustrate the sorry state in which the United States was. On the next room, he organized a series of genitalia demand questions to depict our naivety in dealing with sex and gender.
The themes here seemed to be richer as Gober posed more questions compared to their answers. With the subversions of everyday objects, Gober illuminated the issues as broad and unhandled sex and politics. His ideas were impeccably moving in both their simplicity and skill. Through such juxtapositions of our daily lives, Gober asks as what it means to be in America today. His art invites just any kind of a metaphorical analysis of a work regardless of any implicitly that might present itself. Gober widely presents an art of mourning by reflecting specifically on the homosexual experience.
Before the HIV pandemic, a gay activism had participated in a lively sexual renaissance in New York which were later shut down by health officials. It is through this that Gober figured out on ways to work out on potent iconic sinks and flowing water that carried the orifices and pollution. On the other hand, Gober’s sculpture i.e. the part that is less spiritual had a strong sense of perversity. The works seemed like motifs that doubled as sex organs not forgetting a model of a waxy behind of a sculpture inscribed with music bars.
In conclusion, it is prudent to note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a piece of art having little perversion. This is because it aims at signalling most invisible libidinal tides
WORKS CITED
Jason Farago.Robert Gober opens at MoMA: sober, haunting and genuinely affecting gayism. The Guardian.(October 3, 2014).
Krypton, B. The Facts and Figures behind Jeff Koons’s Massive, Awe-Inspiring Show. The American University in Cairo Press. 2011.
Haynes, R. Jeff Koons’ Philosophy of Perfection.. Atlanta. Edwin Mellen Press. (2010)
