I wrote this piece a while back but it is also relevant today. In 2012 then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton awarded Jeff Koons the first United States Medal of Art. When Koons gave a speech in China, Clinton declared that Koons was an inspiration to his audience. Inspire he did but not as anticipated. ba·nal bəˈnäl,bəˈnal/ adjective so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring. "songs with banal, repeated words" On November 30, 2012 , Jeff Koons, star of the blue chip art galaxy, was awarded the first United States Medal of Art by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The main reason given for selecting Koons is that he is very famous and shows in top of the market art galleries. In the honorary speech, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton recognized Koons for the time in that year when he spoke before an audience of 1000 listeners in China. According to Secretary of State Clinton Mr Koons "inspired cross-cultural appreciat