Artworld’s “King of Kitsch”, Mr Jeff Koons, has finally brought his contentious array of works to London in an exhibition now showing at the Serpentine.

Collated from loans from both public and private collections, the works demonstrate some of the most famous and debated motifs across the artist’s career. The cartoon figures of Popeye and Olive are married with “inflatable” children’s toys which are in fact crafted in solid aluminium, whilst the occasional explicit image harks back to Koons’ “Made in Heaven” series which depicted the artist and his former porn star wife in some rather outrageous situations. Koons started the Popeye series back in 2002, and describes it as an influence from his childhood – “I watched Popeye when I was younger…I always see a little bit of my father in Popeye”. Of the inflatables, he said, “In our own life we’re inflatable. We exhale and it’s a simple death. They’re in a state of being optimistic”.

His motives may go deep, but on a purely surface level it is hard to be disheartened by the smiling, colourful inflatables in the exhibition. It is open to the public from today until September 13 at the Serpentine; or, if you happen to be free and in the area, grab a ticket to the artist’s exclusive talk at 7pm this evening from the V&A bookings office (0207 942 2211).

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