SPORTIEST

Clockwise from top left:
Metallic Venus,
2010-2012; Michael Jackson
and Bubbles, 1988;
Dutch Couple, 2007
Metallic Venus © Collection particulière, Courtesy Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Para El Arte © Jeff Koons; Michael Jackson and Bubbles © Douglas M. Parker Studios, Los Angeles, Collection particulière © Jeff Koons; Dutch Couple © Markus Tretter Fotographie, Pinault Collection © Jeff Koons
alcoholic beverage ads changed depending
upon the neighbourhood and subsequently
the social class. The series includes stainless steel
objects linked to alcohol consumption forming a
complete line of objects ranging from the useful,
like the luxurious Travel Bar in stainless steel, to
the decorative.
Next on the agenda is the Statuary, a panorama
of society with figurative objects of decoration
ranging from Bob Hope to the Italian Woman,
the always fun, sleek and futuristic Rabbit as well
as the Two Kids, all from 1986, all in stainless steel.
In the Made in Heaven series, Jeff Koons is seen
posing alongside his ex-wife and the former porn
actress Ilona Staller, known as La Cicciolina, in
the rather graphic works featuring pastel colours,
crowns of flowers and dream-like landscapes.
The Celebration series is great fun with a
stainless steel Balloon Dog, the shining bright
Moon and the colourful Tulips. And the fun
goes on with the Popeye and Hulk Elvis series.
As heroes and superheroes are an integral
part of American mass culture imagery, these
figures lend themselves particularly well to
an interpretation by Jeff Koons with the Hulk
depicted in apple green, somehow becoming
loveable. There is also the unquestionably
eye-catching Dutch Couple that can split a
smile on the most embittered of faces. Herein
lies as well the polychrome aluminium lovely
and lively Lobster with its coated steel chain
that controversially made its way into the court
of the Sun King at the Versailles show in 2008.
And not to be missed are both Popeye and
Olive Oyl who are in tow and in town for the
show.
Light, fun and playful are the works from the
Easyfun and the Easyfun Ethereal series. Here
the observer enjoys large sculptures, with crystal
and mirrored glass, of cartoon-character like
animals, among them a giraffe and a walrus.
Meanwhile, the Antiquity series takes us on a
journey into the classics of the art world with
a repertoire ranging from Palaeolithic art to
classical sculpture. Koons dialogues notably with
the idea of Aphrodite from which emerges his
Metallic Venus, replete with flowering plants, and
Balloon Venus in high chromium stainless steel
with transparent mirror coating emerge.
Gazing Ball is currently the last series begun
by Jeff Koons and it is made up of replicas
of masterpieces of classical sculpture from
Antiquity to 18th century French sculpture as
well as reproductions of works emanating from
popular culture. The visual unity of the ensemble
revolves around the use of a unique material,
a special blend of plaster, and the presence
on each work of a hand blown glass ball in a
colour of deep and intense blue, the gazing balls
which the artist explains are elements typical of
outdoor decoration in his native Pennsylvania.
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