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[ JEFF KOONS ] People think that i have
a large factory that just knocks out work.

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If you want to make public works
in different mediums, you have

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to have support.

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I do have a lot of people that
work with me, but we make very

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few paintings a year, because it
takes a long time to make each one.

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I learned at a very young age

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how to take care of myself, and
i've always enjoyed providing.

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So the studio's really an
extension of that.

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It's a sense of community.

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From the time i was a child,
i was self-reliant.

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I would go door-to-door, sell
gift wrapping paper, candies, chocolates,

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and I always enjoyed

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that I never knew who would open
that door.

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But it's the same thing that's
happening now as an artist today,

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wanting this
communication, this interaction.

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It wasn't till I got to art school

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that i really understood
how art can connect you through human history

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and the type of
reservoir that it could be.

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If I look at all the works

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that i've done over the years,

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i can see that i continue with
certain themes.

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I like flowers.
I like certain sensual images.

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There's certain things that I
like to work with, 'cause it's

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really the same information, how
you look at life and spiritual aspects.

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A lot of things continue to come
into play.

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Objects are metaphors for
people.

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It always turns out to
be about others.

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It's not about accepting that
object, high-low culture.

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It's about the acceptance of
others.

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- You got everything, Chris?
- Yeah.

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- I don't know if these will work with the fins.

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- Yeah, these braces weren't there
when we flipped it.

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- We'll take 'em out them. 
- Yeah.

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- Screwdriver.

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[high-pitched whining]

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- We're gonna maybe leave this
one in for the time being.

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- Yeah, I wasn't actually gonna take
it out.

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I did that one, and I missed it.

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- 'Cause they'll have enough
room.
- Mhm.

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- Yeah, this one, I'm just
gonna leave it.

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- Jeff's images are usually
made up of many different sources.

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He'll compose these on the
computer and spend a fair amount

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It's our job to reproduce as
close as possible to this reference,

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and then we work with
him in the painting process.

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We trace the drawing on a larger
scale.

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We have to mix color to his
liking.

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Everything is done through maps.

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For example, we have a map for the hand.

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We have 141 colors just for the
fist on that painting.

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It's always an ongoing process
to try to get it as close to the

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reference as possible.

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So, for example, if you
looked in here, we have number 21.

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We would have somebody mix
actual color that would match

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that specific area on the
painting.

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We mix it on the table
over there.

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We basically make a swatch.

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Usually three or four people have to look at the color and
agree if it matches or not, and

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then we go through and tube these paints

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and have boxes full
of all the paints that we need.

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Flesh is a hard one.
Jeff's very particular on the flesh,

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so once we find someone
that we like that does it the

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way we want, it's very hard to
keep 'em around, doing it good.

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We have people that paint
inflatables really well.

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People specialize in certain
things.

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The way we paint here is very
particular.

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It's very smooth.
So we have to watch out that

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people aren't painting too
thick.

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It's kind of an irreversible
thing.

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You can't really fix that.

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But generally speaking, it's three people on a painting at
all times, and it's probably six

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to eight months for a painting,
sometimes longer.

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Ideas change, techniques change,

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so it's always evolving into
different things.

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I've seen Jeff work on some of
the paintings years ago.

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I haven't seen him work so much
now.

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The painting process i see him
working is on the computer.

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He'll keep composing the image
until he's happy with it.

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That's primarily where i see
most of his time spent.

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But he's more hands-on in coming
in daily and giving us guidance

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on what he wants and how to

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execute it to make it look like
what he wants it to look like.

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[ JEFF KOONS ] I think the way art comes
into the world is through

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a metaphysical process.

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If you try to create art, it's a decorative process.

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You're just wasting time,
spinning gears until you get so

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bored with yourself that you
just stop the process and say,

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"Okay, what do i really want
to do?

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What am i interested in?"
and you focus on it, and before

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you know it, you're in that
metaphysical place.

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"Bear and Policeman" that's
probably one of my kind of darker works,

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I worked with
wood because I wanted to work

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with a material that had
a spiritual side,

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that's a living material.

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It keeps moving.
The church has used it for

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a very kind of spiritual aspect
to its nature.

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"Bear and Policeman" is an image
of a bear that's really kind of

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outgrown the symbol of
authority, and it's larger than

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the bobby, the policeman bobby
that's there.

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And it's ready to blow the
bobby's whistle.

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There is kind of a sense of
sexual humiliation there through

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overpowering the bobby, and that
piece, for me, is really

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speaking about that, you know,
art should be something really powerful.

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Artists should embrace all the
tools of art to communicate as

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strongly as possible,

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as clearly as possible with as
much a virile quality.

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But at the same time,
there's a morality that comes

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along with that, and that's just
the respect of other people,

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that their rights are equal
to yours.

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And so, "Bear and Policeman"
was always like art having that

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power but being misused and
going out of control.

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And it always reminded me, like,
of Hitler.

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So i was trying to communicate,

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again, artists should embrace
all the powers of art, but

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there's a moral responsibility
that comes with it.

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"Ushering in Banality" is also
from the "Banality" series.

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It's also made out of wood.

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I always felt that it was
a little autobiographical.

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The young boy in the back
pushing the pig, I always

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thought of as myself pushing in
this belief of really trying to

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make work that would communicate
to people that their own

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cultural history to that moment
was perfect, absolutely perfect.

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Cultural history, personal
history, everything is perfect,

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and that that would give them
a foundation to move forward in life.

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You know, art can be something
which can really disempower

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people and can make them feel
completely inferior—and some

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people can get a sense of power
from that—or it can be

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a vehicle which can
empower people.

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And i also get a sense of power
from empowering.

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There are theatrical aspects
taking place in Versailles.

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My artworks want to show
themselves.

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The artworks are extroverted.
The major salons are about

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public interaction.

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It's for the public to be there.

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I had to position myself in a certain way even to be
accepted within that situation

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of Louis XIV, just like any
artist of the court would have

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to present themself in a certain
way.

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The way I did that, I showed my
self-portrait bust, and I put

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the bust on top of a plinth that
was designed by Bernini, so it

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was quite high.

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It was probably about 11 feet up
in the air.

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And I remember when I made this
suggestion, some of the

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assistants at Versailles started
to giggle.

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They thought, "How could he do
that?

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How could he, you know, put
himself on such a position like

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that on a Bernini base?"

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But i realized that that was
kind of necessary, and that was

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across from the portrait of
Louis XIV by Rigaud, and I think

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it worked, and I think Louis XIV
appreciated it.

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When I'm at Versailles, it never
really seems to be about excess,

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because it seems to be about
detail and enjoying the detail.

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I really enjoyed the lobster
hanging—I think it was in the

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Salon de Mars.

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If you look at the lobster, it's
a little bit like a performer,

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like an acrobat, kind of broad
arms, and the tentacles are like

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a mustache.

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But if you look closely, the
graphics on the lobster are like

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somebody being burned at the
stake.

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So you also have this sense that
if you're in the public eye long

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enough, that's an inevitable
fate.

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To be able to have an exhibition at Versailles,

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it's really
a special opportunity.

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I spent about five weeks of the
summer being in the gardens and

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going through the palace, and then I 
planted “Split-Rocker."

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There are 90,000 flowers, and I
worked with a team of gardeners

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from Versailles.

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And this was the first time that
I ever planted a floral piece

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completely mathematically.

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It's based on a pattern of five
plants.

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I have different light colors
and dark colors and mid colors.

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But it's all done in
mathematical patterns,

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and I never did that before.

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I thought that was really
appropriate for Versailles.

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[ speaking French ]

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[ speaking French ]

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[ JEFF KOONS ] One of the things that I came

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to realize in this last year--
I had several major exhibitions.

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I had a show at Chicago at the
Museum of Contemporary Art.

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I had the show on the roof of
The Metropolitan in New York,

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exhibition at Versailles,

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and then also at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

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I had a chance to see different
bodies of work inter-reacting

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with each other.

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The images can change a lot.
The reason for making something can change.

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Some things can be more
cerebral.

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Other ones can be more physical.
But what doesn't change is that

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reason for making them,

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that desire to be in that moment
of that time when you want to

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make something, just diving
in, that kind of sense of

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abandonment of kind of any doubt
and just going for it.

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And that's really what's
important to me as the viewer in this case.

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I know that other viewers can
look at it, and they can feel

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something, but I hope that the
main charge that they're getting

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is that sense of commitment of
moving forward on something,

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that commitment of gesture.

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[ ANNOUNCER ] To learn more about 
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