“Split-Rocker” 

After stops at Versailles and Rockefeller Center, Jeff Koons’ 37-foot-tall “Split-Rocker” will call the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, its permanent home. Gifted to the museum by art collectors Lynda and Stewart Resnick, the large-scale artist proof will be planted outside the new David Geffen galleries later this year and will anchor the new outdoor public art program integral to LACMA’s freshly completed expansion.

Koons marries two halves of children’s toys for the flower-forward piece— his son’s rocking belonging to his son and a dinosaur—evoking the cartoonish, nostalgic charm at the heart of his most famed works. Planted in its metal skeleton are 50,000 native succulents, perennials, annuals and other blooms. According to the Los Angeles Times, the acquisition and attuning of “Split-Rocker” was years in the making, as Koons and LACMA consulted a team of local horticulturalists for the selection of drought-tolerant flowers fit for the SoCal climate.

The Peter Zumthor-designed Geffen Galleries, which will house the museum’s permanent collection, include a new building and outdoor spaces spanning 3.5 acres across both sides of Wilshire Boulevard. 

“Split-Rocker” will be seeded later this summer with hopes to be fully bloomed by April 2026.

Posted by: admin on July 3, 2025