Whatever Happened to Puppy?

Jeff Koons
Puppy, December 1995 - March 1996
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Kaldor Art Projects

The Artswipe was feeling kinda nostalgic this week. So much so I started thinking about Jeff Koons. (When I'm nostalgic I always think about artists who made a splash in the 80s and early-mid-90s. Don't we all?) Amidst the flood of fond memories, I recalled the time I helped out on the installation for Jeff Koons's Puppy when it was being planted outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in the early-mid-90s. (A quick Google search revealed it was 1995/1996 - geez sorry for the lack of specificity - if it wasn't for the web I would not remember for sniffing so much weedkiller in my day... Plus I forgot to add that week of gardening to my Art CV).

Overcome by the return of a repressed memory, I took a trip down to Circular Quay today just to reminisce. I started thinking about the old days - the gentler times - when volunteerism was in my blood and I would help out on all the big installs - Biennales, Triennials, Perspectas, Puppies - just so I could one day land a job as a museum guide or cloak room clerk. Trekking down to the Quay this afternoon, I made my way past the waterside theatre sports and began walking to the MCA just so I could lie down on the grass and think of Puppy and how much s/he meant to me. Puppy may not be there anymore in reality, but s/he lingers on like a cultural phantom limb, just aching to be scratched. Easily distracted, I had an instant craving for a cheeseburger-hold-the-gherkins. As I crossed the road in a beeline to McDonalds I walked past Customs House and my heart stopped...

There before me was a little floral roadside tribute to Puppy.

The Artswipe

Puppy (In progress), 2008
Public Access Art