By Eva Karcher

EVA KARCHER: Is seduction an element in your work?
JEFF KOONS: No. I do not want to seduce. That would be to assume that I presume to manipulate and to control. Yet the question is not, do I want to serve or to be served. It’s rather about a mutual obligation to respect each other around this kind of equilibrium. I’ve always felt a responsibility in relation to my public, as well as in relation to society at large. I believe that ethics begins with respecting the rights of others.

Do you see yourself as a political artist?
Yes. My work deals with inferiority and superiority. With empowerment. In art you must decide day after day on a definite form. So you become acquainted with the most diverse facets of your fears and subsequently you learn to overcome them. Fear becomes an act. And suddenly one no longer has any fear before this act. Anyone can discover, just under the surface, his second face, his self-assurance, the freedom of action. That’s power.

Do most people fear their own gestures?
Yes, because they have too many scruples about what’s right and what’s wrong. They complicate things out of uncertainty, and in the end they feel incapable of any action. That’s impotence.

This article originally appeared in 032c #13 as “The Artist Jeff Koons on the Political Gesture of Overcoming Fear.”