Koons' topiary art takes root at LACMA

A look behind the scenes as the artist begins adding plants to 'Split-Rocker.'

- JESSICA GELT

THE ARTIST adds the first plant, a dudleya, to "Split-Rocker," above, which looks over Wilshire Boulevard and will feature more than 50,000 flowering perennials and succulents. LACMA Director Michael Govan, left, talks with Koons ahead of the ceremonial planting on Monday.

Photographs by CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times

Jeff Koons stood atop a construction lift and planted a small, silvery gray dudleya succulent on the nose of his monumental topiary sculpture "Split-Rocker" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

"I'm so excited, Los Angeles is feeling like home!" the 70-year-old artist exclaimed Monday from his perch halfway up his 37-foot-tall sculpture while workers in hard hats and various LACMA employees cheered and clapped below.

"It is home!" LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan yelled up at the beaming Koons.

LACMA announced the sculpture's acquisition in June, noting that it would anchor the east side of the campus at the David Geffen Galleries opening in April 2026. Work soon began on erecting the towering armature, which is made of 1,800 linear feet of steel tubing and 500 planter boxes.

Koons flew in from New York this week to perform the ceremonial first planting of what will be more than 50,000 flowering perennials and succulents in 110 pounds of soil packed into the sculpture and held in place with wire mesh and a dark green landscape fabric.

Koons worked for more than a year with a team of landscape architects from LRM, including Kathy Wishard, who noted that the plants chosen for the sculpture are sustainable, native to California and should flower almost yearround ultimately creating their own ecosystem with a web of roots that will further strengthen the creation.