Commercial mass-produced goods, banal knick-knack and traditional sculptural elements form a truly unique combination in Jeff Koons' artistic oeuvre. Kitsch and commerce have been defining the artist's work since the 1980s, polarizing with his sometimes larger-than-life porcelain figurines and elevating brand-new vacuum cleaners to ready-mades worthy of museum exhibitions. Among his best-known works are the "Balloon Animals", with which the artist immortalizes the brightly colored, trendy aesthetics of balloons modeled into animal figures. A supposedly short-lived, everyday disposable product is elevated to an eternally beautiful work of art with the help of the flawless, highly polished surface. "The most important thing to me is the preservation of the object – the sense that it has been created to survive and that its longevity is certain", explains Koons (cited from: www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ jeff-koons-2368/jeff-koons-banality-decadence-and-easyfun).