jeff koons
fondation beyeler, basel, switzerland
on now through september 2nd, 2012
opening in coincidence with art week basel with support from hugo boss and mercedes benz, the fondation beyeler presents
an extensive exhibition of the american artist jeff koons , documenting his artistic development over the past thirty years
of practice through the lenses of three milestone series. 'the new' showcases koons's earliest work, as he began in the early 1980's
with a series of readymade-like appliances and sculptures. 'banality', a period begun in 1988, includes traditionally crafted sculptures
in porcelain and wood, that nonetheless take as their subject ironic confrontations between pop culture icons and baroque artworks.
perhaps koons's most ambitious series to date is 'celebration', a collection of hyperrealistic large-scale stainless steel sculptures
and large-format paintings, initiated in 1994 and brought together at the beyeler exhibition for the first time.
all works in 'celebration' reference memories of childhood, family, and holiday: balloon animals, hanging ornaments,
play-doh, an easter egg, and birthday cake. at the same time, they are represented in imposing, room-size forms,
composed of high-alloy chrome steel, drawing attention to the contrast between their appearance of weightlessness
and their heavy, stable reality. the paintings in the series are based on arrangements of real objects created by the artist--
with objects placed in front of draped, reflective foil-- which were photographed, reworked via schematization, and then enlarged.
an interesting interaction among media forms is created at beyeler, where several of the sculptures are installed next to a painting
of the same subject. the filling of entire rooms, or entire vistas, with the large-scale installations, creates a false sense of scale
where viewers again return to the smallness of childhood.
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