{"id":10715,"date":"2025-06-24T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10715\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:34:11","slug":"jeff-koons-split-rocker-to-bloom-at-lacmas-new-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/10715\/","title":{"rendered":"jeff koons’ ‘split-rocker’ to bloom at LACMA’s new building"},"content":{"rendered":"

jeff koons\u2019s 37-foot-tall piece to bloom year-round in los angeles<\/p>\n

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Later in 2025, Jeff Koons\u2019<\/strong><\/a> Split-Rocker, an 11-meter-tall sculpture covered in over 50,000 living plants<\/strong><\/a>, is set to be permanently installed outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA<\/strong><\/a>). The towering artwork takes its playful shape from precise horticultural design and has been donated to the museum<\/strong><\/a> by longtime patrons Lynda and Stewart Resnick. It will become the focal point of a new outdoor public art<\/strong><\/a> program connected to LACMA\u2019s forthcoming David Geffen Galleries, designed by Peter Zumthor<\/strong><\/a>, set to open in 2026 (find designboom\u2019s previous coverage here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Designed with an internal irrigation system and planted with drought-tolerant flowers suited to Southern California, the Split-Rocker changes appearance as the plants grow and bloom. Its form merges the head of a child\u2019s rocking horse and the head of a dinosaur toy, joined into one oversized and slightly mismatched structure. The result is a surreal hybrid that appears both cartoonish and contemplative, qualities that often describe Koons\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker, 2000, edition of 1 plus 1 AP, \u00a9 Jeff Koons, Versailles installation photo by Laurent Lecat<\/a> | via Unframed Lacma<\/a><\/p>\n

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lacma to debut zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries<\/p>\n

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Positioned at the threshold of the reimagined campus of LACMA, the American artist\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> sculpture signals the transformation taking place within and around the new building. As the summer of 2025 unfolds, LACMA begins activating the plaza level of its new building north of Wilshire Boulevard, giving the public its first look at Peter Zumthor\u2019s long-awaited David Geffen Galleries. The shaded ground-level spaces beneath the elevated structure are designed to host a variety of public programs and serve as an extension of the museum\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> civic presence, hosting outdoor education, events, and performances. New facilities also include the East West Bank Commons, a covered area for gatherings of up to 500 people, the W.M. Keck Education Center for learning and community engagement, and the state-of-the-art Steve Tisch Theater, which will screen films and exhibit time-based media during museum hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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At the same time, LACMA is expanding its outdoor art footprint across 3.5 acres of newly designed public space. Koons\u2019 monumental Split-Rocker will be among the first major works to activate the reimagined grounds, setting the tone for the evolving outdoor collection of the institution. The entire plaza on the north side of Wilshire is set to become a site-specific installation by Mariana Castillo Deball, while a monumental textile work by Los Angeles\u2013based artist Sarah Rosalena will occupy one of the new interior spaces of the museum. Additional sculptures and interventions by Liz Glynn, Thomas Houseago, Shio Kusaka, Pedro Reyes, and Diana Thater will gradually populate the campus. Several iconic works from LACMA\u2019s collection will return, including Tony Smith\u2019s Smoke, Alexander Calder\u2019s Three Quintains (Hello Girls), and the Rodin collection, which will be housed in the redesigned Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden. Previews of the building begin in June 2025, followed by a phased art installation leading up to the museum\u2019s full reopening in April 2026.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker, 2000, edition of 1 plus 1 AP, \u00a9 Jeff Koons, Versailles installation photo by Laurent Lecat | via Unframed Lacma<\/a><\/p>\n

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Split-Rocker finds a new home<\/p>\n

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This particular version of Split-Rocker is the artist\u2019s proof from an edition of one, and its arrival continues LACMA\u2019s long-standing collaboration with Koons. The artist\u2019s stainless steel works, including Rabbit, Balloon Dog (Blue), and Cracked Egg (Red), have been shown at the museum in past exhibitions. In 2008, a miniature version of Cracked Egg was even used as the official invitation to the museum\u2019s BCAM opening gala.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Jeff is a master of bringing bold playfulness together with layers of deeper artistic meaning,\u2019 shares Michael Govan, LACMA\u2019s CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. \u2018We are thrilled to welcome this living sculpture to LACMA, where it will greet visitors, pedestrians, and traffic along Wilshire Boulevard.\u2019 The museum expects the work to be a year-round presence, a rare condition for one of Koons\u2019s monumental floral sculptures, which are often temporary due to climate restrictions.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2014, \u00a9 Jeff Koons, photo by Tom Powel<\/a><\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2014, \u00a9 Jeff Koons, photo by Tom Powel<\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2014, \u00a9 Jeff Koons, photo by Tom Powel<\/p>\n

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Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker, 2000, Palais Des Papes, Avignon, France | image courtesy the artist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"jeff koons\u2019s 37-foot-tall piece to bloom year-round in los angeles \u00a0 Later in 2025, Jeff Koons\u2019 Split-Rocker, an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,11639,11640,2961,11641,224,5337,11642,1038],"class_list":{"0":"post-10715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-flower-and-leaf-art","11":"tag-jeff-koons","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-lacma","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-public-art","17":"tag-sculpture"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}