Jeff Koons

A stack of basketballs in their boxes and three 1950's Hoovers.... had I just wandered in to Arthur Daley's lock up or could this be, perhaps, the Jeff Koons exhibition at The Brighton Museum? It was, of course the latter but you could be forgiven for thinking that you had wandered into a random collection of objects rather than a carefully curated exhibition.
Koons work currently on display the the museum is part of the Artist's Rooms series a collection of post war contemporary art donated by a private collector. The works on display represent various periods of Koons creative life. Works from his earlier 'Banality' series stand alongside later pieces from the 'Popeye' series.
Koon's idea was to raise objects to a 'metaphysical level' and to celebrate the everyday or banal.
The exhibition suffers from a lack of consistency or 'flow' owing to its disparate nature.Because the works stand alone and out of context this only serves to isolate them and highlight their banality and purpose as functional rather than iconic objects.
Some of the pieces are undoubtedly startling and even disturbing. 'Caterpillar Chains' a kids lilo toy in the shape of a caterpillar suspended from the ceiling by six chains is an uneasy look back at childhood suggesting the passive and powerless nature of the child in an adult world.
It is worth wandering into the museum and taking a look at Koons bizarre take on the modern world- it would be better, however, to see the works in context as part of each individual collection.