Jeff Koons

For his first presentation with Pace since joining the gallery in 2021, Koons will show Balloon Venus Hohlen Fels (Magenta), a mirror-polished stainless-steel sculpture that references the ancient mammoth ivory Venus of Hohlen Fels statuette, dated between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago, uncovered in a cave near Schelklingen, Germany in 2008. Balloon Venus Hohlen Fels is part of Koons’s Antiquity series, a body of work that includes four sculptures inspired by Paleolithic sculptures of Venuses.

In Koons’s Balloon Venus sculptures, the artist utilizes his quintessential balloon formations to represent female bodies and cultivate a dialogue between contemporary aesthetics and early examples of human ingenuity. As with other bodies of work by Koons, the Antiquity series forges connections across geographical and temporal boundaries.

“You have a surface that very much is about the moment, and you view it, and it affirms you, and when you move, the abstraction changes. But at the same time it draws you back around 35,000 years ago,” the artist has said of Balloon Venus Hohlen Fels.

Koons’s solo exhibitions at the (opens in a new window) Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and the (opens in a new window) Qatar Museums in Doha will run concurrently with his presentation with Pace in Palm Beach. In June 2022, the artist will open a presentation at the (opens in a new window) DESTE Foundation Project Space in Hydra, Greece.

In 2023, Koons will present a solo exhibition of new work at Pace’s New York gallery.