“Aqualung” is a sculpture created by the artist Jeff Koons in 1985. This artwork is crafted from bronze and is part of the Neo-Pop Art movement, an artistic genre which emerged as a reaction against the tenets of Abstract Expressionism and sought to use popular iconography and modern manufacturing processes. Koons, known for exploring the interaction between high art and mass-produced consumer goods, created this piece as a three-dimensional representation that implies functionality and utilitarianism while remaining a stationary sculptural object.
The artwork is a life-size bronze sculpture that closely resembles an actual aqualung, which is a device used by divers to breathe underwater. It has various components that one would expect from such an apparatus, including a harness with straps, a buoyancy control device, air hoses, and valves. The attention to detail is meticulous, effectively replicating the look of worn and used textures one might find on diving gear that has seen extensive service. The bronze medium has been manipulated to give the appearance of soft, pliable materials such as rubber, fabric, and plastic parts often associated with actual diving equipment. This metamorphosis of the hard, cold material into a seemingly soft and functional object is characteristic of Koons’s artistic exploration of perception, materiality, and the boundaries of art.
