Exhibitions: Jeff Koons | Popeye Series | Serpentine Gallery

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The Review - EXHIBITION
Published: 3 July 2009

Playing with Popeye – and his inflatable friends

JEFF KOONS - POPEYE SERIES
Serpentine Gallery

FOR those of you who tune into Cartoon Network on return from the pub and still hold a candle for Wilma from the Flintstones, this one is for you.
American artist Jeff Koons is the painter’s equivalent of Peter Pan – he never grew up.
Given the number of inflatable beach toys on display, you might think you’ve walked into Hamleys or are poolside at Pontins.
But, no, this is the Serpentine Gallery and you are in an art exhibition.
There are giant lobsters and jug-eared monsters, as well as an array of cartoon heroes including the spinach-popping Popeye and Olive Oyl.
Popeye was conceived 80 years ago this year in 1929 when the Great Depression was taking hold, so in the current time of hardship and recession he is a fitting character to rediscover.
But don‘t be fooled.Beneath the U-rating surface and boyish charms of Koons’ work, is at least a nod to some raunchy S&M, with many of the inflatables set in seductive poses and a smattering of computer-generated soft porn.
Some juxtapositions of toys and everyday objects are baffling, but all of it is playful.
A kind of unsettling fairy tale of an exhibition.

• Jeff Koons: Popeye Series is at the Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
Daily 10am-6pm Admission free
Recorded information 020 7298 1515
information@serpentinegallery.org
Until September 13.

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