Celebrating Jeff Koons’s “Made In Heaven”

Last night Luxembourg & Dayan gallery celebrated the 20th anniversary of artist Jeff Koons’s controversy-laden Made in Heaven series with an exhibition of nine works from the original set. Initially unveiled at the 1990 Venice Biennale, the paintings depict the artist and his then-wife, Italian porn star (and one-time politician) Ilona Staller in several dream-like sexual scenarios, leaving little to the imagination. In their time, the images sparked a debate that traveled across Atlantic to Koons’s highly attended 1991 solo show in New York. In the span of twenty years the images have lost their initial shock value, but still retain the ability to seduce and intrigue viewers.

“Jeff Koons: Made in Heaven Paintings” runs through January 21, 2011.