Face Off: Koons / Kippenberger

The sale of Louis XIV and Untitled, 1988 from the collection of Benedikt Taschen totaled $27,210,000.

The Book.

From the collection of Benedikt Taschen, Face Off: Koons / Kippenberger was published in May 2015 to coincide with the sale of Jeff Koons’ Louis XIV and Martin Kippenberger’s Untitled self-portrait at Christie’s New York. Riddled with an abundance of jarring dichotomies, the immaculately crafted, shining bust of the Sun King by the clean-cut, New York artist, Jeff Koons is an unmistakable contrast from the deliberately sloppy painting of an overweight man in his underpants by the boorish bohemian from Cologne, Martin Kippenberger. Pitting the “Luxury and Degradation” of Koons against Kippenberger, the original texts in this smartly designed publication reevaluate the glaring differences between artists and artworks that in turn bring them closer together.  Ending in a series of interviews with Koons, Taschen, as well as curator Jeffery Deitch, this rare publication presents a unique look into the world of contemporary art.

Publisher: Christie’s Inc., May 2015
Ryumi Sung, Design // Roberto Marrone, William Paton, Josephine von Perfall, Texts // Original interviews with Brett Gorvy, Benedikt Taschen, Jeff Koons, and Jeffery Deitch // Archival Texts by Diedrich Diederichsen and Margo Paz