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Jeff Koons: art's king of pop reigns on at the Gagosian Jeff Koons: art's king of pop reigns on at the Gagosian
(5 months later)
The art dealer Larry Gagosian has recently been shedding famous names, losing Damien Hirst and Yayoi Kusama. Is all not well in the world's most spectacular chain of galleries? So goes the gossip in some quarters, yet Gagosian is about to open a third gallery in London, making a total of 13 worldwide. So apparently he's not all washed up just yet. Meanwhile, Gagosian in New York is opening a show this week that arguably puts the Damien Hirst departure in context.The art dealer Larry Gagosian has recently been shedding famous names, losing Damien Hirst and Yayoi Kusama. Is all not well in the world's most spectacular chain of galleries? So goes the gossip in some quarters, yet Gagosian is about to open a third gallery in London, making a total of 13 worldwide. So apparently he's not all washed up just yet. Meanwhile, Gagosian in New York is opening a show this week that arguably puts the Damien Hirst departure in context.
Hirst is a waning artist. His studio has become a factory of corny Hirst souvenirs. Is he really that big a loss?Hirst is a waning artist. His studio has become a factory of corny Hirst souvenirs. Is he really that big a loss?
Jeff Koons is another matter. Rumours that Koons might be leaving Gagosian were far more significant, because Koons is an evergreen at what he does.Jeff Koons is another matter. Rumours that Koons might be leaving Gagosian were far more significant, because Koons is an evergreen at what he does.
What he does, of course, is to shock the tasteful and offend cultural hierarchies by mixing high and low, art and money, art and sex, in sculptures and paintings that are at once offensively "slick" and bizarrely brilliant. Where Hirst has run out of ideas, Koons carries on being gleefully provocative. He is the art world's true king of pop.What he does, of course, is to shock the tasteful and offend cultural hierarchies by mixing high and low, art and money, art and sex, in sculptures and paintings that are at once offensively "slick" and bizarrely brilliant. Where Hirst has run out of ideas, Koons carries on being gleefully provocative. He is the art world's true king of pop.
And it seems he is staying with Mr Gagosian. Anyway, he has an exhibition at the Gagosian gallery on West 24th Street, Manhattan, from 9 May that includes new twists to all his recurring themes, from inflatable toys to classical art. I especially like the look of the Antiquity series, in which Koons offers his take on that still-living classical tradition, the nude.And it seems he is staying with Mr Gagosian. Anyway, he has an exhibition at the Gagosian gallery on West 24th Street, Manhattan, from 9 May that includes new twists to all his recurring themes, from inflatable toys to classical art. I especially like the look of the Antiquity series, in which Koons offers his take on that still-living classical tradition, the nude.
In Antiquity 3, a model in lingerie and stockings rides a toy dolphin and caresses a toy monkey in front of a trio of marble nudes. The art of ancient Greece meets modern sex. They get on well in this irresistibly funny tease of an artwork. Koons collides the sublime and the ridiculous yet slyly asks a question that is hard to answer: what is beauty? Is it abstract or carnal?In Antiquity 3, a model in lingerie and stockings rides a toy dolphin and caresses a toy monkey in front of a trio of marble nudes. The art of ancient Greece meets modern sex. They get on well in this irresistibly funny tease of an artwork. Koons collides the sublime and the ridiculous yet slyly asks a question that is hard to answer: what is beauty? Is it abstract or carnal?
A scrawled, primitive drawing also covers the composite image, which draws attention to the peculiar play of dimensions in it. The picture is a tangle of two-dimensional and apparently three-dimensional space, of the flat and the seemingly solid. This is the kind of attention to form that makes it impossible to dismiss Jeff Koons. The real tedium of so much art today lies in a lack of interest in aesthetics, a lack of pleasure in visual complexity. Perversely, Koons, who has never pretended to be a hands-on artist and who is notorious for commissioning craftsmen to make statues as well as running a factory-like studio, stands out for his attention to the finer details. His works are richly visual and formally satisfying.A scrawled, primitive drawing also covers the composite image, which draws attention to the peculiar play of dimensions in it. The picture is a tangle of two-dimensional and apparently three-dimensional space, of the flat and the seemingly solid. This is the kind of attention to form that makes it impossible to dismiss Jeff Koons. The real tedium of so much art today lies in a lack of interest in aesthetics, a lack of pleasure in visual complexity. Perversely, Koons, who has never pretended to be a hands-on artist and who is notorious for commissioning craftsmen to make statues as well as running a factory-like studio, stands out for his attention to the finer details. His works are richly visual and formally satisfying.
Long may the monkey king ride the seas of commerce on his dolphin, and long may Gagosian attend him.Long may the monkey king ride the seas of commerce on his dolphin, and long may Gagosian attend him.
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