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# Jeff Koons Must Die!
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/jeff-koons-must-die/
- Published: 2011-03-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-26T10:36:56.000Z
- Description: Pop artist Jeff Koons has drawn criticism and praise in equal doses over the life of his career, but a Florida art student has decided to express his opinion in a different way—by blowing Koons’ work to pieces. Hunter Jonakin created “Jeff Koons Must Die!” for his MFA thesis show as a first-person s
- Author: Jamin Warren
- Tags: Article, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

*Pop artist Jeff Koons’ recreations of everyday objects been both critically appraised and reviled over the artist’s career. art critic Michael Kimmelman [called some of Koons’ paintings](http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/29/arts/art-in-review-233491.html?ref=killscreen.com) “one last, pathetic gasp of the sort of self-promoting hype and sensationalism that characterized the worst of the decade,” while ArtNet [called a 2004 show](http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/saltz/saltz12-16-03.asp?ref=killscreen.com) an “eye-popping visual blast.” But 40-year-old art student Hunter Jonakin sees something else in Koons’ oeuvre: cannon fodder*.

*As a submission to his MFA thesis show at Florida State University, Jonakin created “[Jeff Koons Must Die](http://hunterjonakin.com/koons.php?ref=killscreen.com),” a first-person shooter set in a fictional gallery housing much of Koons’ work. He’d been working with Unreal engine (the same technology used for big-budget shooters like* Gears of War*) for the past decade, and these seemed like a natural extension of his talents.*

**Why Jeff Koons?**

I don’t dislike Koons. People are assuming I hated him. His work is interesting to look at, and I knew I’d have to create these digital fasciimiles. It’d be annoying looking at work I hate for three months. He’s polarizing and it’d give people a reason to destroy his work. It was him or Damian Hirst.

**Have you ever wanted to actually destroying any art that you’ve seen?**

That’s part of the reaction to conceptual art—a lot of it can be alienating. Before I went back to school, I really hated conceptual art. I thought a lot was stupid, and when you feel alienated, there are some strong emotions with that. It taps into something visceral that seems to resonate with people.

**There are some people who have specialize in vandalizing artwork, like those Chinese artists [who pissed in Duchamp’s “Fountain.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain%5F%28Duchamp%29?ref=killscreen.com#Interventions)**

*\[Laughs\]* I like that. If there’s intent and it pushes the piece further, that’s kind of interesting.

**How is the piece being shown?**

It’s housed in an arcade cabinet modeled after a *Q\*bert* machine from 1982\. I looked at a lot of designs and that machine is the quintessential shape. I could have shown it and released it on the web, but ultimately, using the game as a metaphor, I wanted something that signified games. Consoles are multi-use these days—you can watch movies on them. I wanted to recreate that, and it would give a playful tone whereas the title was fairly extreme.

**Is there another artist in your crosshairs?**

I don’t want to jump right into that. My other work isn’t like that at all. But it’s fun to create things in an interactive way, and I like subverting that technology to use in ways it wasn’t intended to.

*Joakin’s work will be shown at [FSU’s Museum of Fine Art](http://www.mofa.fsu.edu/?ref=killscreen.com) starting April 8th.*