Lady Gaga's ARTPOP Pop Up Gallery in New York Is Filled With Jeff Koons Gazing Balls, Dancers, and Face Paint

We went to the preview this morning and photographed the space.

Photo Removed
Complex Original

Blank pixel used during image takedowns

Photo Removed

Lady Gaga held her ArtRave event in Brooklyn last night, where she flew in the first-ever flying dress called VOLANTIS, shared her new ARTPOP app, unveiled the giant sculpture of her by Jeff Koons from her album cover, performed around four other new, unseen sculptures made by Koons, displayed videos and installations by Marina Abramovic, Robert Wilson, Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, and Inez and Vinoodh, and performed many of the songs on her new album

This morning, her three-day ARTPOP POP UP: A LADY GAGA GALLERY opened in New York (417 W 14th) and Los Angeles (1538 N Cahuenga), as a space to document the making of ARTPOP with actual Gaga outfits, props, and interactive experiences like face painting, drawing, and dancing (titled Just Dance 2014). It's a pretty cool concept, as it actively places her work (as if to be artifacts) into an institutional-esque setting (only a few blocks from the Chelsea art galleries in New York, for instance), in a way that presupposes her place and impact in art history.

Visitors might miss the small areas carved into the center drawing room, which contain references for the ARTPOP album cover, designed by Jeff Koons. Among these references are an image of Koons photographing her for the sculpture (with a gazing ball, of course), an image of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne sculpture, and an image of one of his Venus gazing ball sculptures (shown earlier this year at David Zwirner Gallery). 

In a recent interview with MTV, Koons describes the gazing balls, present on the album cover, in Gaga's performances, and in the gallery space:

"With the cover, I wanted to have Gaga there as a sculpture, as a three-dimensional type of form and with the gazing ball, because the gazing ball really does become kind of the symbol for everything — and this aspect of reflection that when you come across something like a gazing ball, it affirms you, it affirms your existence and then from that affirmation, you start to want more. There's a transcendence that takes place and eventually it really leads you to everything. So that aspect's there."

Enjoy the photos of ARTPOP POP UP: A LADY GAGA GALLERY below.

Latest in Style