At last the notorious balloon dog has landed in Sweden and we get a fair chance to see world class art here in Stockholm at the Moderna Museet.

The new exhibition Sculpture after Sculpture with the participant artists Katharina Fritsch, Jeff Koons and Charles Ray is a good effort by the museumchief Daniel Birnbaum. In a short lapse of time it has generated a lot of articles and discussions, all the way from applause to the offended culturejournalist at the big morningpaper.

It is important for the Swedish public to have a chance of a glimpse at the high level articons that are travelling around the world that generates so much of vital impressions that it becomes a matter of importance to world culture. Apart from the obvious references to Duchamp and the Pop art collection at the museum this is an important exhibition in itself.

The biggest star of them all is of course neopop maestro Jeff Koons who has turned his art into a multimillion business thanks to his enourmos selfconfidence and wit and of course with the help from the biggest collectors in the world like Francois Pinault, Bernard Arnauld and Dakis Joannu.

Koons fascination for the simple massproduced products like toys and other cheerful paraphernalia has become quite important icons of the contemporary world we live in. He started out in a quite seroius way producing conceptual artworks like the vacuumcleaners trapped in plexiglas cases (New Hoover Convertibles, New Shelton Wet/Drys 5-Gallon Doubledecker, 1981-87) and basketballs hovering in aquariumtanks (Two Ball Total Equilibtium Tank, 1985), having a dry matter of fact attitude of our everyday symbols. But the real shift came when he simplified his ideas and started using toys and greetingparaphernalia where we can see one of the grandest works he has done in this exhibition: Balloon Dog, 1994-2000, this work is a true masterpiece as it is simple, instantly recognizable, fun, totally harmless and very decorative. This is a piece you can put up anywhere in the world and it will get immediate attention, it works for any viewer and it touches all levels of sense and sensibility.
The problem with Koons is that as soon as he wants to get more intricate and deep philosophywise his works tend to become boring, like any other conceptualist who wants to dissect the human thoughtprocess and you leave out the fragile balance of the visual and the humour, its a dud.

Well, there are 5 unique Balloon Dog sculptures in different colors that are continously touring around the world and despite the chinese company that offer you one for a fraction of the price the artist does not fear to much intervention in his business. There are several lawsuits ongoing by the way.

The other two artists are a bit lesser known for the general public but are stars in their own right, having good careers and making a fine living from the works. They have formidable sculptures on display like the Madonnenfigur, 1987 by Fritsch and the Fall ’91 by Ray. Fritsch is a very crass matter of fact symbolic artist that has a very strict way of presenting her works, almost like Koons she minimize the traces and make it very simple for the mind to take in, but with a more teutonic dry approach that is humourless.

Charles Ray might be the most interesting one, at least if we look at his works from the 90’s when he broke through: he uses the shift in our perception and investigates in both history of art and our popular culture and uses a meticulous procedure when manufacturing the works.
Like in the sculpture Tractor, 2005, where he has dismantled a broken caterpillar tractor down to the tiniest detail and then cast everything in aluminium and as a final tribute to the machine put everything together so it resembles the real one but it is a clone or … Whatever the viewer need to see.

The exhibition was put together by Jack Bankowsky a writer and former editor of Artforum a true theorist which shows in the exhibitions lack of the visual and harsch beauty. An interesting gossip is that Mr Bankowsky’s boyfriend is Matthew Marks the gallerist who represents Fritsch and Ray, and mr Birnbaum used to write for Artforum under Mr Bankowsky’s watch. Anyway what are contacts good for if you do not use them.
Go and see the exhibition, it will make you a better person.

Sculpture after Sculpture.
11 november – 18 january, 2015
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
www.modernamuseet.se

For a more deeper investigation into the mind of Jeff Koons there is a retrospective of his career at the Centre Pompidou from 26 november – 27 april, 2015 and thereafter the show will travel to the Guggenheim Bilbao.

If you are interested in sculputral installation visit the Louisiana museum and enjoy someone more of a contemporary age, Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition Riverbed which will give you a complete turnaround on artappreciation.
Runs til january 4, 2015.

Credits:

Words by Axel Mörner