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A curate ( /ˈkjʊərɨt/)^[1] is a person who is invested with the care or cure (cura) of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries the term curate is commonly used of assistant clergy to the parish priest. The duties or office of a curate are called a curacy (as the office of a president is a presidency).

Etymology[link]

From the Latin curatus (compare Curator)

Le curé Hermas Baffrey de Rombach-le-Franc

Roman Catholicism[link]

In modern Roman Catholic practice in the United States, "curate" is popularly used for a priest assigned to a parish who is not the pastor. The parochus (parish priest or "pastor") is the priest who has canonical responsibility for the parish. He may be assisted by one or more "parochial vicars". Such a parochial vicar is popularly called a "curate", "associate pastor", or "assistant pastor" in various regions of the country.

In other languages, derivations from curatus may be used differently. In French, a curé means the senior parish priest. So do the Italian word curato and the Spanish word cura.

Anglican Communion[link]

In Anglican churches, a curate may be commonly called a vicar, a rector or a priest-in-charge (depending upon the way s/he has been licensed by the Bishop). Ordained clergy (both transitional deacons and priests) who are serving their title are properly called assistant curates, but colloquially may be known as "the curate".

In the Church of Ireland some curates are styled "bishop's curates" as they are accountable directly to the diocesan bishop, while sometimes mentored by local parish clergy and are perceived to have more autonomy than other assistant curates.

Ministers in the Church of England whose main financial income comes from sources other than their work as clergy may be termed "Self Supporting Ministers" or "Curate (SSM)".^[2]

In Anglican parishes with a Charismatic or Evangelical tradition, the roles of curates are usually seen as being an assistant leader to the overall leader, often in a larger team of pastoral leaders. Many of the larger Charismatic and Evangelical parishes have larger ministry teams with a number of pastoral leaders, some ordained and others who are not.

The Revd Canon Edgar Sheppard, Curate at Marlow and Hornsey and a canon of St George's Windsor

History[link]

The Book of Common Prayer (1662) of the Church of England refers to the clergy as "bishops and curates" in the text of the prayer of intercession for Holy Communion. It uses the word "curate" in its original sense to refer to all clergy entrusted with a cure of souls.

Originally a bishop would entrust a priest with the "cure of souls" (pastoral ministry) of a parish. When, in medieval Europe, this included the legal freehold of church land in the parish, the parish priest was a "perpetual curate" (curatus perpetuus), an assistant would be a (plain) curate (curatus temporalis). The words perpetuus and temporalis distinguish their appointments but not the length of service, the apparent reference to time is accidental. A curate is appointed by the parish priest and paid from parish funds. A perpetual curate is a priest in charge of a parish who was (usually) appointed and paid by the bishop.

As the church became more embedded into the fabric of feudal Europe, various other titles often supplanted "Curate" for the parish priest. "Rector" was the title given to a priest in possession of the tithe income. This right to the income was known as a "Living". The title of rector comes from regere—"to rule". Those parishes where a monastery had appropriated the rights to the tithe income, a portion of this income was set aside for a priest to occupy the parish, essentially acting on behalf of the monastery, in other words vicariously – hence "vicar". In some cases, a portion of a tithe for a vicar could exceed the income of some rectors, depending on the value of the livings being compared.

In England and Wales, when a new parish was created from a larger rectoral or vicarious parish, the incumbent, or parish priest was sometimes styled as the "perpetual curate". The term "parson" came to be used to refer to all perpetual curates whether or not they received the higher positions of "vicar" or "rector". This led to those perpetual curates who had no higher position preferring to be styled "parson" so as to distinguish themselves from assistant curates. This happened to the extent that the term "curate" came to mean "assistant curate". The British Parliament passed an act in 1868 which authorised all perpetual curates to use the title "vicar". This reinforced the notion that a curate is an assistant parish priest or deacon. Although widely called "curates", however, they are still legally assistant curates. This English usage is used throughout the Anglican Communion and in some English-speaking Roman Catholic churches. The house provided for an assistant curate is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "curatage".

Minor canons[link]

Minor canons are those clergy who are members of a cathedral's establishment and take part in the daily services but are not part of the formal chapter. These are generally more junior clergy, who in a parish church would be serving a curacy.

See also[link]

• Charismatic movement
• Curate's egg
• Curation
• Curator
• Low church
• Rector
• Vicar

References[link]

The Bullitts are a UK band created by Jeymes Samuel. Samuel is a producer / songwriter / artist and film maker. His new album They Die By Dawn and Other Short Stories is due out in the summer of 2012.^[1] They released their first single called "Close Your Eyes" in April 2011 and it was premiered by Radio One DJ Zane Lowe as "The Hottest Record In The World".^[2] The single featured Lucy Lui narrating and Jay Electronica rapping and was accompanied by a video which was a re-imagining of the Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel film ‘Un Chien Andalou’. The group has also released a series of flixtapes on YouTube. Their second single "Landspeeder" was aired by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 in May 2011 and again hailed as "The Hottest Record In The World".^[3] Their first official release is "Supercool" which once again premiered as a Hottest record in the World on the Zane Lowe Radio 1 show on 4 October 2011.^[4] The song was accompanied by a video featuring Samuel dressed as a homeless individual being harassed by an individual who is filming him against his will. During this he bumps into actress Rosario Dawson and the pair end up having a dance off on the streets of Soho. The video was an instant viral hit garnering over 1 million unique views.^[5]

The Bullitts headlined at The Big Chill Festival in August 2011 playing the main stage on Saturday the 6th of August. They were joined on stage by Actor Idris Elba, Actress Lucy Liu and Rapper Jay Electronica.^[6]

The Bullitts have a strong cinematic element to them and have accompanied all of their releases with a short film shot and directed by Jeymes. They released ‘Weirdo’ in July 2011, a short piece starring actor Jesse Williams .^[7] In it, two young lovers in paper bag masks spend an idyllic day on the streets of London before sticking up a newsagents during a declaration of love. For the song ‘Run and Hide’ featuring Jay Electronica they shot a tragic film noir in Paris based around the actress Elisa Wald-Lasowski.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

John Legend
John Legend, 2010
Background information
Birth name	John Roger Stephens
Born	(1978-12-28) December 28, 1978 (age 33)
Origin	Springfield, Ohio, United States
Genres	R&B, hip hop soul, soul, neo soul, jazz fusion
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	GOOD, Sony Music
Associated acts	Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots
Website	johnlegend.com

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[1]

Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Stephens added his voice to those of other artists, assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to Kanye West's All of the Lights, on Slum Village's "Selfish" and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road." Stephens played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything."

Career and life[link]

1978–2003: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio.^[2] He is the son of Phyllis, a seamstress, and John Mills, a factory worker and former National Guardsman.^[3][4] Throughout his childhood, Stephens was homeschooled on and off by his mother.^[5] At the age of four, he began playing the piano and at the age of seven, he performed with his church choir. When he was ten, his parents divorced, causing his mother to suffer a breakdown.^[4] At the age of 12, Stephens attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later.^[6] He graduated salutatorian.

According to Stephens, he was offered scholarships to Harvard University, Georgetown University and Morehouse College.^[7] He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African American literature.^[8] While in college, he helmed Counterparts, a co-ed jazz and pop a cappella group as president (1997–1998) and musical director (1998–1999). Stephens' lead vocals on the group's recording of Joan Osborne's "One of Us" received critical acclaim^[9] landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. Stephens was also a member of the prestigious Sphinx Senior Society while an undergraduate at Penn. While in college, Stephens was introduced to Lauryn Hill by a friend. Hill hired him to play piano on "Everything Is Everything", a song from her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.^[7]

During this period, Stephens took time to hold a number of shows around Philadelphia, eventually expanding his audience base to New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He finished college in 1999, and thereafter began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released two albums independently; his self-titled demo (2000) and 'Live at Jimmy's Uptown' (2001), which he sold at his shows.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Stephens began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.^[6] During this time, he began working on his demo and began sending his work to various record labels.^[5][10] In 2001, Devo Springsteen introduced Stephens to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West; Stephens was hired to sing during the hooks of West's music. After signing to West's label, he chose his stage name from a nickname that was given to him by poet J. Ivy, due to Stephens' "old-school sound".^[7][11] Stephens' vocals can be heard on several tracks including Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name", Jay-Z's "Encore", Kanye West's "Never Let Me Down," also featuring Jay-Z and J. Ivy, Dilated Peoples' "This Way" and Slum Village's "Selfish".

[edit] 2004–2005: Get Lifted

Stephens released his debut album, Get Lifted, in December 2004. It debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 116,000 copies in its first week.^[12] It went on to sell 2.1 million copies in the United States and was certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[13][14] It has sold three million copies worldwide.^[7] The album produced two singles: "Ordinary People" (US and UK top 30) went straight to number four and "Used to Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2006–2007: Once Again

The first single from his second album, Once Again, was "Save Room". The album was released October 24, 2006, and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am. In an interview with MTV, he said that this album contained his favorite song that he had written to date, entitled "Again." He said he came up with the idea for the song and wrote some of it while sitting on a subway. He stated that the song was also the inspiration for the album's title^{[citation needed]}.

In August 2006 Stephens appeared in an episode of Sesame Street. He performed a song entitled "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song", a duet with Hoots the Owl.^[15] He also performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit and the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game.^[16][17]

[edit] 2008–2010: Evolver

John Legend interviewed on the Red Carpet during the Toronto International Film Festival, 2008.

Stephens released his third studio album Evolver, in October 2008.^[18] Rapper Andre 3000 of OutKast is featured on the first single of the album on a song titled "Green Light". "It's going to be a surprise for a lot of John Legend fans, because it is a lot more upbeat than John is — than people think John is," Andre insisted. "I was actually happy to hear it. This is a cool John Legend song".^[19] The next single from Evolver was confirmed as "Everybody Knows".^[20]

Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning "Blues & Soul", he explained his reasons for titling the album 'Evolver': "Well I think people sometimes come to expect certain things from certain artists. They expect you to kind of stay in the same place you were at when you started out. Whereas I feel I want my career to be defined by the fact that I'm NOT gonna stay in the same place, and that I'm always gonna try new things and experiment. So, as I think this album represents a manifestation of that, I came up with the title 'Evolver'."^[21]

In 2009, Stephens performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.^[22]

[edit] 2010: Wake Up!

John Legend and The Roots teamed up to record a collaborative album,^[23] Wake Up!, which was released on September 21, 2010.^[24] The first single released off the album was "Wake Up Everybody" featuring singer Melanie Fiona and rapper Common; a video for the song has been released.^[25][26] "Hard Times" is the second single.

In February 2011 John won three Grammy Awards (one by himself and two with The Roots) at the 53rd Annual Grammy Music Awards Ceremony. Legend won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "Shine", and he and The Roots won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album (Wake Up!) and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Hang On In There". In March 2011 Legend and the Roots won two NAACP Image Awards – one for Outstanding Album (Wake Up!) and one for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration.

2011–Present: Tour, Duets TV Show and working on new album[link]

Summer 2011, Legend completed a 50-date tour as a guest for British Soul band Sade. In the San Diego stop, Legend confirmed that he is working on his next studio album, and played a new song called "Dreams".^[27]. Legend was granted an Honorary Doctorate Degree from <<Howard University>> at the 144th Commencement Exercises on Saturday May 12, 2012.^[28]

Legend is currently a judge on the ABC music show Duets along with Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke. Legend's spot was originally for Lionel Richie but Richie had to leave the show due to a scheduling conflict. Duets debuted on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 8/7c.^[29].

Plagiarism lawsuit[link]

On July 5, 2011, songwriter Anthony Stokes filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against John Legend in United States District Court, in the District of New Jersey, alleging that Legend's song "Maxine's Interlude" from his 2006 album Once Again derives from Stokes' demo "Where Are You Now."^[30] Stokes claims he gave Legend a demo of the song in 2004 following a concert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[31] Legend has denied the allegations, telling E! Online, "I never heard of his song until he sued me. I would never steal anyone's song. We will fight it in court and we will prevail."^[32] Nearly 60,000 people took a TMZ.com poll that compared the two songs and 65% of voters believed that Legend's "Maxine's Interlude" is a rip-off of Stokes' "Where Are You Now."^[33]

Collaborations[link]

• In 2005 he was featured in the Fort Minor song "High Road".
• In 2006 he was featured in Sérgio Mendes's collaboration album, Timeless, singing "Please Baby Don't".
• In 2006 collaborated with Jay-Z on the album Kingdom Come on the song "Do U Wanna Ride".
• Collaborated with Japanese R&B duo CHEMISTRY on their 2006 single "Tōkage".
• Collaborated with Mary J. Blige on "King & Queen".
• In 2007 lent his vocals for the Rich Boy track "Ghetto Rich".
• In 2008 collaborated with Colombian Rock artist Juanes at the Latin Grammys, singing in Spanish along with Juanes, on the bilingual version of the song "Si tu estas ahi" also known as "If You Are Out There".
• Featured in The Black Eyed Peas song, "Like That". The song "Ordinary People" was originally meant to be for a Black Eyed Peas project, but they agreed the song fitted better sung by J.Legend and recorded the song after he had been signed to Columbia Records.
• Tentatively worked with Michael Jackson on a future album. In a Dutch interview with singer and host Tommy Parker, he was asked about this collaboration. His response was that he had written one song for the upcoming album, but was unsure about whether Jackson would be using it.^[34]
• Sang "The Girl is Mine" and the national anthem along with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.
• Featured on the sixth track ("Heartbreaker") of MSTRKRFT's second album Fist of God.

• He collaborated with Fergie for her song "Finally" on her 2006 debut album "The Dutchess".
• Featured in T.I.'s song "Slide Show" on his album Paper Trail. A music video for "Slide Show" was released on August 10, 2009, featuring a video collage; it is unknown as of yet, however, if it is an official single.^[35]
• He is also featured in the song "Magnificent" by Rick Ross. The music video has cameo appearances from DJ Khaled saying and wearing "We the Best!!", Birdman, Ace Hood, Triple C's, and Special Ed. It was released on March 3, 2009, and it was directed by music video director Gil Green. It was filmed at Gulfstream Park Racetrack in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The two later collaborated on the songs "Sweet Life" and "Free Mason," the former of which failed to make the cut for the follow-up album, Teflon Don, and the latter of which featured rapper Jay-Z as well.
• Co-wrote (and played piano on) "Move on Me" by British singer-songwriter Fin Greenall (a.k.a. Fink) from the album "Sort of Revolution" (2009)
• Collaborated with Reggae legend Buju Banton on the track "Can't Be My Lover". The track is one of the biggest mixes of R&B and Reggae/Dancehall in years.
• In 2009 recorded a duet with Brazilian singer Ana Carolina called "pt:Entreolhares (The Way You’re Looking at Me)". He sings in English, and she sings in Portuguese.
• In the summer of 2009 he recorded a duet with ex-member of Sin Bandera, Noel Schajris, called "No Importa" (It Doesn't Matter). He sings in English and Spanish.
• In 2009 a duet version "Save Room" featuring German band, Monrose, was released under the title "Save Room (Let's Get Strictly Physical)".
• Has plans to collaborate with British born talent, Stefan Vitalis, to produce a soulful and dynamic record.
• Recorded a cover of the U2 song "Pride (in the name of love)"
• Collaborated with Nas for the title track on DJ Khaled's 2010 album Victory.
• In 2010 collaborated with Pink and Herbie Hancock for a recording of Peter Gabriel's song "Don't Give Up", which featured on Hancock's album The Imagine Project.
• Collaborated with Lupe Fiasco on the track "Never Forget You."
• Collaborated with Kanye West on the song "Blame Game" on West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
• In September 2010 collaborated with British dubstep trio, Magnetic Man, on a track entitled "Getting Nowhere".
• Collaborated with Lil Wayne on the track "So Special." On Wayne's album Tha Carter IV.
• Sang a duet with jazz singer Cassandra Wilson "Watch the Sunrise" co-written by Legend on her 2010 album Silver Pony.
• Collaborated with Mariah Carey in 2011 on a duet version of her holiday track "When Christmas Comes" from her 2010 album, Merry Christmas II You.
• Collaborated with Tiziano Ferro on the track "Karma" from Tiziano Ferro album, L'amore è una cosa semplice.

Music videos and acting career[link]

His cover of Stevie Wonder's 1974 hit song "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" appeared in Will Smith/Eva Mendes' film Hitch and on the soundtrack album of the movie.

The 2007 video for his single, "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", features Alexandre Rodrigues and Alice Braga from the critically acclaimed film, City of God.

Songs attributed to John Legend have appeared in feature films, as follows:

• "Refuge" appears on the soundtrack to the 2006 film The Second Chance.
• "Dare to Dream" is in the 2007 movie Pride.
• "Someday" is part of the soundtrack to the 2007 film August Rush.
• "Shine" was written for the end credits of the 2010 film Waiting for Superman.

He has a supporting, singing-only role in the 2008 movie Soul Men, where he plays the deceased lead singer of a fictitious soul group that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac. Although he has no real dialogue in the film, he only sings a song called "I'm Your Puppet" along with Jackson and Mac.

Endeavors[link]

Television appearances and commercials[link]

• Performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA.^[36]

• Appeared on the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, singing a cover of "You Don't Know Me". He also appeared on an episode of the television series "Las Vegas" in February 2007, performing his single "Save Room" solo at the end of the episode.

• In 2007 performed with John Mayer and Corinne Bailey Rae at the Grammy Awards. He later appeared with Bailey Rae in several live performances.

• Appeared in a recent commercial for a Lexus SUV, in which Legend is shown listening to Nina Simone's "Backlash Blues" (recorded live in Paris, 1968, on The Great Show LP) and describing his experience with the music. He is also notable for performing closing music in many of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs' keynote presentations.

• In January 2008 sang in a video for Barack Obama, produced by Will.I.Am called "Yes We Can".^[37]

• Performed "America The Beautiful" at WrestleMania XXIV on Sunday March 30, 2008 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.^[38]

• In a 2008 Target commercial performed a piece of his song "Slow Dance" to pitch his new album "available exclusively at Target." The commercial was shown during online streaming episodes of NBC programs.

• In 2008 performed several numbers live in front of tens of thousands of fans during the "Welcome to America" July 4 celebration on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, PA.

• Performed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver in September 2008.

• Appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on October 31, 2008. He was a member of the panel and performed "If You're Out There" at the end of the show.

• Appeared on CNN Heroes 2008, which was taped November 22, 2008, and was televised November 27, 2008.

• Appeared to perform the song in duet with Colombian rock singer Juanes during the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 13, 2008. The version they performed was sung mostly in Spanish by both singers, with only a few lines in English.

• On Sunday, January 18, 2009, performed at the We Are One:The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, singing James Taylor's "Shower the People" with James Taylor and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.

• On Friday, February 13, 2009, he was a guest and performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. John performed his song, "Everybody Knows" from his album, Evolver.
• Performed at the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch party at LAX in Las Vegas on February 12, 2009.
• Performed at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game halftime show on February 15, 2009.
• Performed at the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009, singing "Down to Earth" nominated for Best Original Song.^[39][40]
• On an episode of The Colbert Report which aired March 7, 2008, performed "The Girl Is Mine" with Stephen Colbert. It was a remake of the Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney hit. Returned to The Colbert Report on April 14, 2008, performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Stephen Colbert, opening the show's week in Philadelphia. He later appeared in Colbert's Christmas special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, where he performed an ode to nutmeg. His fourth appearance aired September 9, 2010, when he performed a tribute to returning American troops in the second half of the two-part special Been There, Won That: The Returnification of the Ameri-Can-Do Troopscape. He sung "Coming Home" from his 2006 album Once Again.

• On Sunday, May 17, 2009, served as commencement speaker for the University of Pennsylvania's 2009 graduation ceremonies. Amy Goodman happened to be in the audience, and she televised the speech the following Tuesday, May 19, 2009 on Democracy Now!.^[41]

• On June 12, 2009, co-hosted ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning on the ESPN2/ESPN Radio simulcast with Mike Greenberg. He sat in for Mike Golic.

• On August 23, 2010, performed at the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant, Evening Gown segment, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• On October 27, 2010, performed the American National Anthem for the 2010 World Series opener.

• On October 30, 2010, performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear with The Roots.

• On February 24, 2011, Legend appeared on the season 2 finale of Royal Pains.

• Interviewed by host John Jacobsen as the third guest on the first season of PBS television's The Artist Toolbox.

• On May 20, 2012, Legend and Jordin Sparks performed a tribute to Whitney Houston at the Billboard Music Award 2012

Charitable endeavors and philanthropy[link]

Legend performs during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

On July 7, 2007, he participated in the Live Earth concert in London, performing "Ordinary People". On July 8, 2007, he participated in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, with India.Arie. On July 11, 2007, he participated in the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, with Amy Winehouse. On September 21, 2008, he also performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK in conjunction with the Peace One Day concert. He sang "Green Light" and "If You're Out There".

The Show Me Campaign google ,^[42] through which his fans are encouraged to donate funds toward improving the living situations and prospects of victims of extreme poverty in Mbola, Tanzania, is another example of Stephens' charitable involvement. In early 2008, he began touring with Professor Jeff Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute to promote sustainable development as an achievable goal.

Stephens returned to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio on Christmas Eve 2007 for a "Coming Home Christmas Benefit Concert" in the auditorium of North High School. The performance featured several local talent from Springfield, including Legend's younger brother Vaughn Anthony Stephens, who helped organize the concert. The performance also featured a tribute to Jason Collier, and proceeds went to a scholarship fund set up in his name for local high schoolers.^[43]

After reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs' book, The End of Poverty, Stephens was inspired to visit Ghana to learn more about making life better for the people who live under the poverty line. This is when he started his "Show Me Campaign" in 2007. With this campaign, Stephens called on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who reside in Bossaso Village^[where?] and non-profit organizations that the campaign partners with.

In 2007 Stephens was the spokesman for GQ Magazine's "Gentlemen's Fund", an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2007 he partnered with Tide laundry detergent to raise awareness about the need of families in St. Bernard Parish, (Slidell, LA) one of the most devastated areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. He spent a day folding laundry at the Tide "clean start" mobile laundromat and visited homes which Tide is helping to rebuild in that community.

In October 2007 he became involved^{[clarification needed]} with a project sponsored by The Gap, a retail clothing store chain in the United States. Through their "project red campaign" (also called "2 WEEKS"), The Gap's contribution to their global fund from the sale of each (2 WEEKS) t-shirt is equivalent to the average cost of 2 weeks of anti-retroviral medicine in Africa, which enables people living with HIV to lead healthy, normal lives.

In 2009 Stephens gave AIDS Service Center NYC permission to remix his song "If You're Out There" to create a music video promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and testing.^[44]

Stephens claims to have contributed a share of the proceeds of some tickets for his August 13, 2009, concert at Madison Square Garden to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Stephens is also the National spokesperson for and has performed benefit concerts for "Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT is a national non-profit organization that has made ground-breaking progress assisting the next generation of African American, Hispanic and Native American leaders in major corporations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial ventures.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

On January 22, 2010, he performed "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon show.^[45]

On September 8, 2010, John Legend joined the national board of Teach For America.^[46] Legend also sits on the boards of The Education Equality Project and the Harlem Village Academies, and serves as co-chair (with Rupert Murdoch) of the Harlem Village Academies’ National Leadership Board.

On September 9, 2010, he performed "Coming Home" on the Colbert Report as a tribute song for the end of combat operations in Iraq, and for the active troops and the veterans of the United States Armed Forces.^[47]

In 2011, he contributed the track "Love I've Never Known" to the Red Hot Organization's most recent album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot+Rio." Proceeds from the album sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.

On March 6, 2012, John Legend was appointed by the World Economic Forum to the Forum of Young Global Leaders.^[48]

Endorsements[link]

Stephens is currently a spokesperson for the Baileys line of alcoholic beverages. He also spoke on behalf of The Polka Dotz at Milwaukee's 2008 German Fest.

He performed and spoke at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Barack Obama Presidential campaign in April 2008.^[49] He later performed "If You're Out There" from the album Evolver and a duet of Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Also, he performed a half-hour set list in support of Barack Obama in his hometown of Springfield, as well as at The Ohio State University and Wright State University campuses on September 29, 2008.

"Fan Appreciation" events[link]

On July 26, 2007, Stephens hosted a John Legend Network Members Only Party and Concert called "The Kings & Queens Bash" at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. There were 500 participants in attendance and he introduced the acts from his new label, Homeschool Records to his John Legend Network fans: Estelle, his brother, Vaughn Anthony Stephens, Lucy Woodward and The James Gang. Harmonicist Frederic Yonnet performed as a special guest.

On July 25, 2008, at the Highline Ballroom in New York City,^[50] John Legend planned another annual private event for his fans who are members of the John Legend Network called "John Legend Unplugged". Legend performed a 21-song set list, including several songs from his Evolver album. This allowed John Legend Network members to be the first to hear the new songs. After the party, Legend greeted each individual on their way out and took pictures with fans.

On February 8, 2011, Legend performed and spoke at Arizona State University's Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona for a Black History Month event presented by the Undergraduate Student Government of ASU.^[51]

Discography[link]

• Get Lifted (2004)
• Once Again (2006)
• Evolver (2008)
• TBA (2012)

Collaborations

• Wake Up! (with The Roots) (2010)
• Cruel Summer (with G.O.O.D. Music) (2012)

Personal life[link]

On December 27, 2011, Legend's rep announced he was engaged to model Chrissy Teigen while vacationing in the Maldives after dating for 4 years. Teigen has been featured in Deal or No Deal and in Sports Illustrated.^[52][53]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• List of awards and nominations received by John Legend

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Legend

• Official website
• John Legend – The Artists Organization – Management
• John Legend at the Internet Movie Database
• John Legend in-depth interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' October 2010
• http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/12/entertainment/la-et-people-speak12-2009dec12
• The People Speak at the Internet Movie Database

Jeff Koons
Koons at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1955-01-25) January 25, 1955 (age 57) York, Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality	American
Field	Sculpture, printmaking, balloon modelling
Training	School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
Works	Puppy (1992) Balloon Dog (1994-2000)
Influenced by	H.C. Westermann, Salvador Dalí

Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces. He lives and works in New York City and his hometown York, Pennsylvania.

Koons' work has sold for substantial sums of money including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. The largest sum known to be paid for a work by Koons is Balloon flower (Magenta) which was sold for £12,921,250 (US$25,765,204) at Christie's London on June 30, 2008 (Lot 00012) in the Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale.

Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works,^[1] nor any critiques.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania. His father Henry Koons^[3] was a furniture dealer and interior decorator; his mother Gloria, a housewife and seamstress.^[4] As a child he went door to door after school selling gift-wrapping paper and candy to earn pocket-money.^[5] As a teenager he revered Salvador Dalí, to the extent that he visited him at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. Koons studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute College of Art. While a visiting student at the Art Institute, Koons met the artist Ed Paschke, who became a major influence and for whom he worked as a studio assistant late 1970s.^[6] After college, he worked at the membership desk of the Museum of Modern Art^[7] and as a Wall Street commodities broker while establishing himself as an artist.

Personal life[link]

While a student at the Maryland College of Art, Koons conceived a daughter, Shannon Rodgers. Though he offered to marry the girl's mother, she felt that they were too young for the commitment, and the couple reluctantly put the child up for adoption. Shannon Rodgers reconnected with Koons in 1995.^[8]

In 1991, he married Hungarian-born naturalized-Italian pornography star Cicciolina (Ilona Staller) who for five years (1987–1992) pursued an alternate career as a member of the Italian parliament. In 1992, they had a son, Ludwig. The marriage ended soon afterward. They agreed to joint custody of the child, but Staller absconded from New York to Rome with the child, where mother and son remain. A long custody battle ensued with the award of sole custody to Koons by the U.S. court in 1998, which had also dissolved the marriage. However, he ended up losing custody when the case went to Italy's Supreme Court.^[9]

In 2008, Staller filed suit against Koons for failing to pay child support.^[10]

Koons is now married to Justine Wheeler, an artist and former employee who began working for Koons' studio in 1995.^[11]

Work[link]

Jeff Koons rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as part of a generation of artists who explored the meaning of art in a media-saturated era.^[12] He gained recognition in the 1980s and subsequently set up a factory-like studio in a SoHo loft on the corner of Houston and Broadway in New York. It was staffed with over 30 assistants, each assigned to a different aspect of producing his work—in a similar mode as Andy Warhol's Factory (notable because all of his work is produced using a method known as Art fabrication).^[13] Today, he has a 1,500 m² (16,000 sq ft) factory in Chelsea with 90 regular assistants.^[4] Koons developed a color-by-numbers system, so that each of his assistants could execute his canvases and sculptures as if they had been done "by a single hand".^[3]

[edit] The Pre-New, The New, and Equilibrium series

Since 1979 Koons has produced work within series.^[14] His early work was in the form of conceptual sculpture, an example of which is The Pre-New, a series of domestic objects attached to light fixtures, resulting in strange new configurations. Another example is The New, a series of vacuum-cleaners, often selected for brand names which appealed to the artist and which he had mounted in illuminated Perspex boxes. Koons first exhibited these pieces in the window of the New Museum in New York in 1980. He chose a limited combination of vacuum cleaners and arranged them in cabinets accordingly, juxtaposing the verticality of the upright cleaners with the squat cylinders of the "Shelton Wet/Dry drum" cleaners. At the museum, the machines were displayed as if in a showroom, and orientated around a central red fluorescent lightbox with just the words "The New" written on it as if it were announcing some new concept or marketing brand.^[15] Another example for Koon's early work is The Equilibrium Series (1985), consisting of one to three basketballs floating in distilled water, a project the artist had researched with the help of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.^[3] The Total Equilibrium Tanks are completely filled with distilled water and a small amount of sodium chloride reagent, to assist the hollow balls in remaining suspended in the centre of the liquid. In a second version, the 50/50 Tanks, only half the tank is filled with distilled water, with the result that the balls float half in and half out of the water.^[16]

[edit] Statuary series

Koons started creating sculptures using inflatable toys in the 1970s. Taking a readymade inflatable rabbit Koons cast the object in highly polished stainless steel, resulting in Rabbit (1986), one of his most famous artworks. Originally part of the private collection of Ileana Sonnabend, Rabbit is today owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. A proof of the sculptur is owned by Eli Broad.

The Rabbit has since returned to its original soft form, and, many times larger at more than 50 feet high, taken to the air. On October 13, 2009, the giant metallic monochrome color rabbit used during the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade was put on display for Nuit Blanche in the Eaton Centre in Toronto.

[edit] Luxury and Degradation series

First shown in Koons' eponymous exhibitions at the short-lived International With Monument Gallery, New York, and at Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1986, the Luxury and Degradation series is a group of works thematically centered on alcohol. This group included a stainless steel travel cocktail cabinet, a Baccarat crystal decanter and other hand-made renderings of alcohol related paraphernalia, as well as reprinted and framed ads for drinks such as Gordon's Gin ("I Could Go for Something Gordon’s"), Hennessy ("Hennessy, The Civilized Way to Lay Down the Law"), Martell ("I Assume You Drink Martell") and Frangelico ("Stay in Tonight" and "Find a Quiet Table")^[17] in seductively intensified colors on canvas^[4] Another work, Jim Beam - J.B. Turner Engine (1986) is based on a commemorative, collectible in bottle in the form of a locomotive that was created by Jim Beam; however, Koons appropriated this model and had it cast in gleaming stainless-steel.^[18] The train model cast in steel titled Jim Beam - Baggage Car (1986) even contains Jim Beam bourbon.

[edit] Made in Heaven series

In 1989 the Whitney Museum asked Koons to make an artwork about the media on a billboard^[3] for the show "Image World: Art and Media Culture". Koons employed Ilona Staller as a model in the shoot that formed the basis of the resulting work for the Whitney, Made in Heaven (1990–91).^[19] The series of paintings, photographs, and sculptures portrayed the Koons and Staller in explicit sexual positions and created considerable controversy. It was first shown at the 1990 Venice Biennale.^[20] Koons reportedly destroyed much of the work when Staller took their son Ludwig with her to Italy.^[21] In celebration of the Made in Heaven's 20th anniversary, Luxembourg & Dayan chose to present a redux edition of the series.^[22]

[edit] Banality series

Main article Banality sculptures

Koons then moved on to the Banality series that culminated in 1988 with Michael Jackson and Bubbles, a series of three life-size gold-leaf plated porcelain statues of the sitting singer cuddling Bubbles, his pet chimpanzee. Three years later, one of these sold at Sotheby's New York for $5.6 million. Two of these sculptures are now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The statue was included in a 2004 retrospective at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo which traveled a year later to the Helsinki City Art Museum. It also featured in his second retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in 2008.

Anticipating a less than generous critical response to his 1988 Banality series exhibition, with all of his new objects made in an edition of three,^[23] allowing for simultaneous, identical shows at galleries in New York, Cologne, and Chicago, Koons devised the Art Magazine Ads series (1988-89).^[24] Placed in Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, and Art News, the ads were designed as promotions for his own gallery exhibitions.^[25] Arts journalist Arifa Akbar reported for The Independent that in "an era when artists were not regarded as 'stars', Koons went to great lengths to cultivate his public persona by employing an image consultant." Featuring photographs by Matt Chedgey, Koons placed "advertisements in international art magazines of himself surrounded by the trappings of success" and gave interviews "referring to himself in the third person.”^[13]

[edit] Puppy

Puppy in Bilbao

Koons was not among the 44 American artists selected to exhibit his work in Documenta 9 in 1992,^[26] but was commissioned by three art dealers to create a piece for nearby Arolsen Castle in Bad Arolsen, Germany. The result was Puppy, a 43 ft (13 m) tall topiary sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier puppy, executed in a variety of flowers (including Marigolds, Begonias, Impatiens, Petunias, and Lobelias)^[27] on a transparent colour-coated chrome stainless steel substructure. In 1995, the sculpture was dismantled and re-erected at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Sydney Harbour on a new, more permanent, stainless steel armature with an internal irrigation system. While the Arolsen Puppy had 20 000 plants, The Sydney version held around 60 000.^[28]

The piece was purchased in 1997 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and installed on the terrace outside the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.^[29] Before the dedication at the museum, an Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) trio disguised as gardeners attempted to plant explosive-filled flowerpots near the sculpture,^[30] but was foiled by Basque police officer Jose María Aguirre, who then was shot dead by ETA members.^[31][32] Currently the square in which the statue is placed bears the name of Aguirre. In the summer of 2000, the statue traveled to New York City for a temporary exhibition at Rockefeller Center.^[33]

Media mogul Peter Brant and his wife, model Stephanie Seymour, commissioned Koons to create a duplicate of the Bilbao statue Puppy (1993) for their Connecticut estate, the Brant Foundation Art Study Center.^[34] In 1998, a miniature version of Puppy was released as a white glazed porcelain vase, in an edition of 3000.^[35]

[edit] Celebration series

Celebration, a series of large-scale sculptures and paintings of, among others balloon dogs, Valentine hearts, diamonds, and Easter eggs, was conceived in 1994. Some of the pieces are still being fabricated. Each of the 20 different sculptures in the series comes in five differently colored “unique versions”,^[36] including the artist's proof, all in high-chromium stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces. Koons began the series with Balloon Dog in 1994, based on balloons twisted into the shape of a toy dog^[37] and coated with transparent color in Blue, Magenta, Yellow, Orange, and Red. He later made ten monumental Easter Eggs with ribbon, each one uniquely colored, between 1994 and 2008; five have a smooth surface (Smooth Egg with Bow, 1994–2009) and the other eggs seem to be packed in crumpled foil (Baroque Egg with Bow, 1994–2008).^[38] The two-part Cracked Egg sculptures (1994-2006) are the only works in the series in which fracture or assault of the shiny surface has taken place.^[39] Cracked Egg (Blue) won the 2008 Charles Wollaston Award for the most distinguished work in the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.^[40] His later work Tulips (1995–2004) consists of a bouquet of multicolor balloon flowers blown up to gargantuan proportions (more than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 5 m (16 ft) across).^[41]

Koons was pushing to finish the series in time for a 1996 exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, but the show was ultimately canceled because of production delays and cost overruns.^[42] The artist convinced his primary collectors Dakis Joannou, Peter Brant, and Eli Broad, along with dealers Jeffrey Deitch, Anthony d’Offay, and Max Hetzler, to invest heavily in the costly fabrication of the Celebration series. The dealers funded the project in part by selling works to collectors before they were fabricated.^[43]

In 2006, Koons presented Hanging Heart, a 9 feet tall highly polished, steel heart, one of a series of five differently colored examples, part of his Celebration series.^[44] Large sculptures from that series were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2008.

The series also includes, in addition to sculptures, sixteen^[45] oil paintings.^[38]

Recent work[link]

Commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim in 1999, Koons began a new series, Easyfun, comprising paintings and wall-mounted sculptures. One year later, he designed Split-Rocker, his second floral sculpture made of stainless steel, soil, geotextile fabric, and an internal irrigation system, which was first shown at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. In 2001, Koons undertook a series of paintings, Easyfun-Ethereal, using a collage approach that combined bikinis, food, and landscapes painted under his supervision by assistants.^[46] Paintings and sculptures from his Popeye series, which he began in 2002, feature the cartoon figures of Popeye and Olive Oyl.^[47]

Other[link]

In 1999, Koons commissioned a song about himself on Momus's album Stars Forever.

In 2006, he appeared on Artstar, an unscripted television series set in the New York art world and from February 15 to March 6, 2008, he donated a private tour of his studio to the Hereditary Disease Foundation for auction on Charitybuzz.com.

Kiepenkerl, located in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

A drawing similar to his Tulip Balloons was placed on the front page of the Internet search engine Google. The drawing greeted all who visited Google's main page on April 30, 2008 and May 1, 2008.^[48]

Koons had a minor role in the 2008 film Milk playing state assemblyman Art Agnos.^[49]

Curating[link]

Koons acted as curator of an Ed Paschke exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, New York, in 2009.^[50] In 2010 he curated an exhibition of works from the private collection of Greek billionaire Dakis Joannou at the New Museum in New York City. The exhibition, Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, generated debate concerning cronyism within the art world. Koons is heavily collected by Joannou and had previously designed the exterior of Joannou's yacht Guilty.^{[citation needed]}

BMW Art Car[link]

The Koons-designed car — driven by Dirk Müller, Andy Priaulx and Dirk Werner — was retired after 53 laps of the race.

Jeff Koons was the artist named to design the seventeenth in the series of BMW "Art Cars". His artwork was applied to a race-spec E92 BMW M3, and revealed to the public at The Pompidou Centre in Paris on 2 June 2010.^[51] Backed by BMW Motorsport, the car then competed at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.^[52]

Exhibitions[link]

Since a 1980 window installation at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Koons' work has been widely exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions. In 1986, he appeared in a group show with Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton, and Meyer Vaisman at Sonnabend Gallery in New York. In 1997, the Galerie Jerome de Noirmont organised his first solo show in Europe. His Made in Heaven series was first shown at the Venice Biennale in 1990.^[20]

His museum solo shows include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (1988), Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (1993), Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin (2000), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2001), the Museo archeologico nazionale di Napoli (2003), and a retrospective survey at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2004), which traveled to the Helsinki City Art Museum (2005). In 2008, the Celebration series was shown at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[53]

Considered as his first retrospective in France, the 2008 exhibition of 17 Koons sculptures at the Chateau de Versailles also marked the first ambitious display of a contemporary American artist organized by the chateau. The New York Times reported that “several dozen people demonstrated outside the palace gates” in a protest arranged by a little-known, right-wing group dedicated to French artistic purity. It was also criticised that ninety percent of the $2.8 million in financing for the exhibition came from private patrons, mainly François Pinault.^[54]

The May 31 – September 21, 2008 Koons retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago,^[55][4][56] which was widely publicized in the press, broke the museum's attendance record with 86,584 visitors.^[57][58] The exhibition included numerous works from the MCA collection, along with recent paintings and sculptures by the artist. The retrospective exhibition reflects the MCA's commitment to Koons's work as it presented the artist's first American survey in 1988.^[59] For the final exhibition in its Marcel Breuer building, the Whitney Museum is planning to present a Koons retrospective in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.^[60]

In July 2009, Koons had his first major solo show in London, at the Serpentine Gallery. Entitled Jeff Koons: Popeye Series, the exhibit included cast aluminum models of children’s pool toys and "dense, realist paintings of Popeye holding his can of spinach or smoking his pipe, a red lobster looming over his head." ^[61]

In May 2012, Koons had his first major solo show in Switzerland, at the Beyeler Museum in Basel, entitled Jeff Koons. Shown are works from three series: The New,Banality and Celebration as well as the flowered sculpture Split-Rocker. ^[62]

Recognition[link]

Koons received the BZ Cultural Award from the City of Berlin in 2000 and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 2001. He was named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 2002 and then promoted to Officier in 2007. He was given the 2008 Wollaston Award from the Royal Academy of Arts in London.^[20]

Art market[link]

Koons's works have sold for astronomical prices at auctions and privately. His auction records have primarily been achieved by his sculptures (especially those from his Celebration series), whereas his paintings are less popular. In 2001, one of his three Michael Jackson and Bubbles porcelain sculptures sold for $5.6 million. On November 14, 2007, a magenta Hanging Heart from the collection of Adam Lindemann, one of five in different colors, sold at Sotheby's New York for $23.6 million becoming, at the time, the most expensive piece by a living artist ever auctioned.^[44] It was bought by the Gagosian Gallery in New York, which the previous day had purchased another Koons sculpture, "Diamond (Blue)", for $11.8 million from Christie's London.^[63] Gagosian appears to have bought both Celebration series works on behalf of Ukrainian steel oligarch Victor Pinchuk.^[64] In July 2008, his 11-foot (3.3 meter) Balloon Flower (Magenta) (1995-2000) from the collection of Howard and Cindy Rachofsky also sold at Christie's London for an auction record of $25.7 million. In total, Koons was the top-selling artist at auction with €81.3 million ($117.2 million) of sales in the year to June 2008.^[65]

During the late 2000s recession, however, art prices plummeted and auction sales of high-value works by Koons dropped 50 percent in 2009.^[65] A violet Hanging Heart sold for $11 million in a private sale.^[66] However prices for the artist's earlier Luxury and Degradation series appear to be holding up. The Economist reported that Thomas H. Lee, a private-equity investor, sold Jim Beam J.B. Turner Train (1986) in a package deal brokered by Giraud Pissarro Segalot for more than $15 million.^[67]

Koons has been represented by dealers such as Mary Boone (1979-1980), Sonnabend Gallery (since 1986), Max Hetzler in Berlin and Jérôme de Noirmont in Paris. The exclusive right to the primary sale of the “Celebration” series is held by Gagosian Gallery, his dominant dealer. The artist is widely collected in America and Europe, where some collectors acquire his work in depth. Eli Broad has 24 pieces, and Dakis Joannou owns some 38 works from all stages of the artist’s career.^[68]

Classification[link]

Among curators and art collectors and others in the art world, Koons's work is labeled as Neo-pop or Post-Pop as part of an '80s movement in reaction to the pared-down art of Minimalism and Conceptualism in the previous decade. Koons resists such comments: "A viewer might at first see irony in my work... but I see none at all. Irony causes too much critical contemplation."^{[citation needed]} Koons' crucial point is to reject any hidden meaning in his artwork. The meaning is only what one perceives at first glance; there is no gap between what the work is in itself and what is perceived.^{[citation needed]}

He has caused controversy by the elevation of unashamed kitsch into the high art arena, exploiting more throwaway subjects than, for example, Warhol's soup cans. His work Balloon Dog (1994–2000) is based on balloons twisted into shape to make a toy dog.

His sculpture differs in two major respects to the original:

1. it is made of metal (painted bright red to give the appearance of balloons),
2. it is more than ten feet (three metres) tall.

Evaluation and influence[link]

Koons has received extreme reactions to his work. Critic Amy Dempsey described his Balloon Dog as "an awesome presence... a massive durable monument."^[69] Jerry Saltz at artnet.com enthused that it was possible to be "wowed by the technical virtuosity and eye-popping visual blast" of Koons's art.^[70]

Mark Stevens of The New Republic dismissed him as a "decadent artist [who] lacks the imaginative will to do more than trivialize and italicise his themes and the tradition in which he works... He is another of those who serve the tacky rich."^[71] Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times saw "one last, pathetic gasp of the sort of self-promoting hype and sensationalism that characterized the worst of the 1980s" and called Koons's work "artificial," "cheap" and "unabashedly cynical."^[72]

In an article comparing the contemporary art scene with show business, renowned critic Robert Hughes wrote that Koons is “an extreme and self-satisfied manifestation of the sanctimony that attaches to big bucks. Koons really does think he's Michelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him.”^[73] Hughes placed Koons's work just above that of Seward Johnson and was quoted in a New York Times article as having stated that comparing their careers was "like debating the merits of dog excrement versus cat excrement".^[74]

To the question “Is it important that your work be famous?”, Koons replied: "There’s a difference between being famous and being significant. I’m interested in [my work's] significance — anything that can enrich our lives and make them vaster — but I’m really not interested in the idea of fame for fame’s sake."^[63]

He has influenced younger artists such as Damien Hirst^[13] (for example, in Hirst's Hymn, an 18 ft (5.5 m) version of a 14 in (0.36 m) anatomical toy) and Mona Hatoum.^{[citation needed]} In turn, his extreme enlargement of mundane objects owes a debt to Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.^{[citation needed]} Much of his work also was influenced by artists working in Chicago during his study at the Art Institute, including Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, and H. C. Westermann.^[75]

In 2005, he was elected as a Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Copyright infringement litigation[link]

Koons has been sued several times for copyright infringement over his use of pre-existing images, the original works of others, in his work. In Rogers v. Koons, 960 F.2d 301 (2d Cir. 1992), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a judgment against him for his use of a photograph of puppies as the basis for a sculpture, String of Puppies.^[76]

Koons also lost lawsuits in United Features Syndicate, Inc. v. Koons, 817 F. Supp. 370 (S.D.N.Y. 1993), and Campbell v. Koons, No. 91 Civ. 6055, 1993 WL 97381 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 1, 1993).

More recently, he won one lawsuit, Blanch v. Koons, No. 03 Civ. 8026 (LLS), S.D.N.Y., Nov. 1 2005 (slip op.),^[77] affirmed by the Second Circuit in October, 2006, brought over his use of a photographic advertisement as source material for legs and feet in a painting, Niagara (2000). The court ruled that Koons had sufficiently transformed the original advertisement so as to qualify as a fair use of the original image.

Koons has also threatened others under copyright, claiming that a gallery infringed his proprietary rights by selling bookends in the shape of balloon dogs.^[78] Koons abandoned that claim after the gallery filed a complaint for declaratory relief stating, "As virtually any clown can attest, no one owns the idea of making a balloon dog, and the shape created by twisting a balloon into a dog-like form is part of the public domain." ^[79]

Sources[link]

• Kimmelman, Michael. "Jeff Koons", The New York Times, 29 November 1991.
• Koons, Jeff. The Jeff Koons Handbook. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. ISBN 0-8478-1696-6
• Sciolino, Elaine. "At the Court of the Sun King, Some All-American Art", The New York Times, 8 September 2008.
• Stevens, Mark. "Adventures in the Skin Trade", The New Republic, 20 January 1992.
• Tomkins, Calvin. "The Turnaround Artist: Jeff Koons Up from Banality", The New Yorker, 23 April 2007.
• Tully, Judd. "Jeff Koons's Raw Talent", The Washington Post, 15 December 1991.

References[link]