Jeff Koons's "Split-Rocker" made its New York City debut at Rockefeller Center, to coincide with the opening of his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Presented by Gagosian Gallery and organized by Public Art Fund and Tishman Speyer, "Split-Rocker" is a spectacular planted form that towers over 37 feet high and features over 50,000 flowering plants.



Consistent with Koons's persistent fascination with dichotomy and the in-between, the inspiration for "Split-Rocker" came when he decided to split and combine two similar but different toy rockers, a pony belonging to his son and a dinosaur ("Dino"). The slippage or "split" between the different halves of the heads gives an almost Cubist aspect to the composition. As the model was enlarged to the scale of a small house, the split became an opening, a profile, and a light shaft. In contrast to his legendary "Puppy" of 1992, which was presented by Public Art Fund at Rockefeller Center in the summer of 2000, "Split-Rocker" suggests the idea of a fantasy shelter. Whereas the singular form of "Puppy" is closed and sculptural, the combined form of Split-Rocker is architectural and hollow.