Jeff Koons 'Popeye' series at the Serpentine Gallery.
The influential American artist, born in 1955, is famous for his giant reproductions of rather banal objects.
In this intimate exhibition, encompassing a handful of rooms in the gallery, and lead by Koons' favorite character 'Popeye' who appears randomly throughout, the artist has painstakingly recreated an array of brightly colored, inflatable children's swimming toys, all combined with ordinary, yet obscure, everyday objects - chairs, rubbish bins, kitchen utensils. But look closer. All these silly playthings are actually made of aluminum - the casts seemingly identical to the original, glaring objects. 'DO NOT TOUCH' signs are mounted on every wall, understandably... though onlookers examine each sculpture with respectful scrutiny...
With all these garish colors, it is hard to remember the content of Koons' signature concerns - consumerism, taste, banality and sexuality.
Critics are divided over Koons' work, its mirror finish surfaces and bright colors: pioneering art-historical or crass, artificial and cheap...?
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