Jeff Koons Exhibition at Norwich Castle

My favourite pieces in this exhibition were the advertisements Koons created to publicise a New York show in 1988.He entered the ads into leading art magazines- directly confronting both viewers and critics with his work. I find Koons' idea of transposing this imagery back into the media format it originated from really interesting. The controversial questions of the value of kitsch that are so frequently raised in 20th century art are given a fresh angle by placing the work back into the realm of main stream culture.

 From Hamilton's collages to Warhol's Cola bottles Kitsch influences often infiltrate the art world, but are the pop culture references that also preside over Koons' career worthy to be viewed as 'Fine Art'? Do cartoons, cheesy slogans and brand names have a place in the cultured White Cube? Koons renders this debate obsolete. With this series he reminds the superior magazines which argue this question of their hypocrisy: he appropriates their own visual language and also their very identities to prove the value of such work, and cultural significance of pop art.