Jeff Koons: Banality Series Bread and Butter Plates
Designed by Jeff Koons in collaboration with Bernardaud, this limited-edition set of six bread and butter plates highlights the artist’s Banality series. Each plate features a reproduction of a work from the series, including Bear and Policeman, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Vase of Flowers, Ushering in Banality, Winter Bears, and Woman in Tub (all 1988).
Working with traditional craftspeople, Koons rendered the subjects in this series in gilt porcelain and polychromed wood, materials more often associated with decorative housewares than with contemporary art. He conceived of Banality as an elaborate allegory, aimed at freeing one to embrace without embarrassment our childhood affection for toys and trinkets.