Jeffrey “Jeff” Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects 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 Tulips which was sold for US$33,682,500(£21,219,975) at Christie’s New York on November 14, 2012.

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,  nor any critiques.

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. He gained recognition in the 1980s and subsequently set up a factory-like studio in a SoHo in New York. It was staffed with over 30 assistants —in a similar mode as Andy Warhol’s Factory .

Today, he has a 1,500 m²  factory in Chelsea with 90 regular assistants.