Swoon the Koon

I have a love/hate relationship with Pop Art. I admire it. But in the way you would Paris Hilton. Not for who she is but what she gets away with.

You have to acknowledge what they say is the greatest art form of all time - marketing. Idiots fall victim to it. Intellectual people don't, they have something to prove to the world. A genius buys into it because everyone else does.

I can't think of Jeff Koons as an artist. He's a brand. But forgetting that and looking at his work exhibited at the Serpentine in London I was still impressed. With most modern art you need to take in account the entire package that encases an artist to appreciate the work but this stuff was capable of standing alone. Its craftsmanship and mind-trickery playfulness was enough for me. I had heard about Koons before but if I hadn't it wouldn't have taken away from the work.

You need to touch the artworks to believe them. Which is where the genius of a gallery comes in. There's too many queer gallery assistants hand gesturing while telling you "...any closaar to the werrrk, and I'll have to athk you to leeave." so you leave the place pondering the work, as well as homophobic.

Koons is a Warhol type figure. It's his vision and other people's work that makes him so famous. It's the Hilton thing again. A part of you condemns what they do but given the chance you wouldn't do any different.