Claims

Hiring studio assistants is a necessary part of the contemporary art production process for many artists due to strong financial and commercial incentives to increase the quantity of work or achieve an impossible level of perfection.

Koons established one of his first factory-like studios in SoHo, New York in the mid-1980s with over 30 assistants; by the early 2000s he employed as many as 120 assistants; and by 2019 he operated a 16,000 sq ft studio factory with varying staff depending on financial conditions.

Part of the reason for Koons' slow painting output is that he frequently stands in the public eye and each piece faces immense scrutiny, making attention to detail and perfection extremely important to the success of his work.