The morning before the public debut of CJ Hendry’s newest art installation, “Keff Joons,” a woman was trying to decide whether to traverse to the highest point of the giant sculpture. “I’m going into the yellow fruit loop,” she finally decided, eyeing a lower level of the immersive exhibition, a colorful jumble of inflated balloon-like structures.
“That’s always the surprise, to see it interacted with,” Hendry says of the final element of her exhibitions: audience participation. “So it’s really nice to see people jumping on it and climbing atop it.”
Known for creating large-scale exhibitions that utilize unexpected materials, Hendry’s latest was inspired by iconic pop artist Jeff Koons‘ giant balloon dog sculptures. “I was trying to make a balloon dog and just couldn’t,” Hendry says. “And then I made these random knots. I’m like, ‘oh yeah, this works.’ And then I just wanted to keep playing with that idea.”
Visitors to the exhibition, located in a warehouse space in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood and open through April 20, are given a pair of orange sticky socks to climb into the sculpture; the experience is akin to a grown-up bounce house meets whimsical playground structure.
“What I always found really striking about Jeff Koons’ big steel structures was that I have seen imagery of him sitting on his balloon dogs,” Hendry adds. “I was like, wouldn’t that be fun? And to be able to make these big knots and replicate that imagery of him sitting on these big steel structures — but, you know, us sitting on these knots.”
“Keff Joons” exhibition by CJ Hendry.
“Keff Joons” by CJ Hendry.
The room also features a smaller, non-scalable balloon knot sculpture, as well as framed photorealistic illustrations of balloon configurations and limited “lenticular” editions of her drawings.
“I always start with drawings and then build the exhibition, and then editions linked to the drawings in some way,” says Hendry, who launched her career by sharing her illustrations on social media in the mid-2010s. For visitors who aren’t in the market to purchase an original piece of artwork, a merch stand offers themed hats, T-shirts, a coloring book and package of twistable balloons at more affordable price points.
Illustrations by CJ Hendry.
Illustration by CJ Hendry.
“Keff Joons” follows recent exhibitions including a market of sequin patches and viral “Flower Market” collaboration with Cleu de Peu, which drew so much demand and foot traffic to its original location on Roosevelt Island last fall that the artist was forced to relocate it to a warehouse in Industry City overnight. Later this year, Hendry will bring Flower Market 2.0 to Rock Center, with a totally new assortment of plush flowers.
Will “Keff Joons” draw similar lines? Touching on the popular nature of her work, Hendry brushes past the topic of queues.
“We just build something and then if people come, great,” she says. “Lines are not the definition of if it’s successful or not,” the artist adds. “I just put out into the world what I want to put out, and then the rest is what will happen.”
Inside the “Keff Joons” exhibition.
