A familiar animal at an unfamiliar scale.
Jeff Koons’s Puppy takes the recognizable shape of a terrier and turns it into a towering floral sculpture. Outside the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the work sits somewhere between an animal, a garden, and a landmark.
A sculpture that grows
Created in 1992, Puppy uses stainless steel, soil, geotextile fabric, an internal irrigation system, and live flowering plants. At about 12.3 meters tall, it changes the relationship between a person and an ordinary household animal.
The flowers form the sculpture’s surface. From a distance they read as a single body; close up, individual plants and colors take over. The work depends on care and growth as well as its supporting structure.
Recognition and surprise
The subject is immediately approachable. Its size is harder to reconcile with the small dog it represents. That difference between a familiar image and an unexpected physical presence is central to the experience of the work.
Unlike a polished mirror, the surface changes through living material. Its texture and color belong to the plants themselves, giving the sculpture a connection with gardening as well as monumental art.
Further reading: Jeff Koons studio — Puppy ↗.
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