Jeff Koons Handbook

Billed as the ``the first monograph and primary sourcebook'' on Jeff Koons, this volume is an entirely entertaining read. Love him or hate him, Koons is a fascinating phenomenon, from his early days as a Wall Street commodities broker to his recent--and very public--collaboration with Italian porn star Ilona Staller, or ``La Cicciolina.'' Koons's art-world ascent is chronicled with insight and appreciation in Rosenblum's introduction, and the book shows readers a survey of Koons's oeuvre. Of particular note are his Duchampian consumer objects, such as tea kettles and vacuum cleaners; his banal kitsch items like the Venetian-glass erotica, the stainless-steel trolls and the ``sculpture icons of veneration such as superstars Michael Jackson, Bob Hope, and the artist himself''; and his art magazine ads advertising himself and his galleries. Most eye-catching, however, are the oil-ink silk screens of Koons and Staller making love in a variety of positions and settings. The artist's aphorisms (``Abstraction and luxury are the guard dogs of the upper class'') are by turns funny, insightful, overblown and bland--just like Koons himself. (Mar.)