Jeff Koons / Philippe Parreno

The works of Jeff Koons at the Fondation Beyeler resound in the clear, bright spaces of Renzo Piano's building, contrasting with Philippe Parreno's drawings, films and sculptures.

In his very first exhibition in a Swiss museum, tycoon Jeff Koons has chosen to concentrate on three series of works that together construct a unique journey through his overall work: in a moment in which excess and opulence seem to belong to a time that no longer exists, Koons focuses on the icons of the past, present and future to re-examine the contemporary world.

The dance begins with a light box depicting the young Jeff with a box of wax crayons. For anyone familiar with him today, it is not difficult to see how his expression has remained unchanged and that his face is one of an eternal child. The exhibition's baroque presentation continues around the galleries with the series The New (from 1980 to 1987), Banality (1988) and Celebration (from 1994, up until works from 2012). The New is one of Koons's most famous series and one of the landmarks of contemporary art from the 1980s. Brand new Hoover vacuum cleaners — which made history in America in the 1950s and 60s — are enclosed in perspex cases lit from below: in their unusual cleanness, the Hoovers become sensual, innocent and pure and seem to represent the idea of novelty, the opening of new horizons for society. The contrast with the minimalist form of the transparent boxes heightens the sense of strangeness while raising the sculptural forms to the level of real icons of the United States of America.

Top: Jeff Koons, <em>Hanging Heart (Gold/Magenta)</em>, 1994–2006. © Jeff Koons. Photo Jeff Koons Studio, New York. Above: <em>Split-Rocker</em>, 2000. © Jeff Koons — Top: Jeff Koons, *Hanging Heart (Gold/Magenta)*, 1994–2006. © Jeff Koons. Photo Jeff Koons Studio, New York. Above: *Split-Rocker*, 2000. © Jeff Koons

Alongside the sculptures a large painting shouts: "New! New Too!" This opens the second series of works in the exhibition. Banality is a collection of traditional images made from wood and ceramic: a naked boy and girl child exchange a flower, three angels honour a pig, a bear talks to a policeman, the musicians of Bremen — the traditional group of the horse, the dog, the cat and the cockerel all one on top of the other — become a cartoon object, with amused and ironic expressions. In a systematic collection of representations linked to the childish imagination, with a certain petit-bourgeois taste for niceties and delights, Koons's sculptures — built with silly and playful images, with a certain sense of ambiguity, blown up and perfected by the artist's hand — explore everyday religiousness and a sense of guilt, maybe interacting (or perhaps not?) with shared morality. There is even a new Pietà — with a gold and porcelain Michael Jackson and his monkey Bubbles —, perhaps one of the most representative images of the madness of the star system and undoubtedly one of the artist's most famous.

Jeff Koons' <em>Balloon Flower (Blue) </em> reflects on Philippe Parreno's poetic effect in the fountain pools, creating temporary and ethereal technological lily pads — Jeff Koons' *Balloon Flower (Blue)* reflects on Philippe Parreno's poetic effect in the fountain pools, creating temporary and ethereal technological lily pads

In the final part of the exhibition, the most ambitious and the one presenting the most recent works, Koons celebrates play in reference to the all-American culture of entertainment. Giant coloured, shiny metal balloons evoking amusement parks dot the galleries: a multi-coloured elephant, a giant pink swan, a bunch of tulips, a red puppy. Koons's balloons reflect the light and the surrounding space, becoming monuments that are as useless as they are extraordinary in their untouchable perfection. On the walls a number of paintings, also of impressive dimensions, transform cream cakes and coloured clay into dazzling decorative representations of a bragging world shouting at the top of its voice.

With a certain petit-bourgeois taste for niceties and delights, Koons's sculptures explore everyday religiousness and a sense of guilt

Jeff Koons, <em>Tulips</em>, 1995–2004. © Jeff Koons. Photo by Serge Hasenböhler — Jeff Koons, *Tulips*, 1995–2004. © Jeff Koons. Photo by Serge Hasenböhler

The works in the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, curated by Sam Keller and sponsored by Hugo Boss — who for some years has been following Jeff Koons' work around the world — resound in the clear, bright spaces of Renzo Piano's building that opens out onto the surrounding park with large windows through which two outdoor sculptures can be glimpsed: Ballon Flower (Blue) (from the Celebration series) and Split Rocket, made up of thousands and thousands of plants and coloured flowers. What you can't see — unless you look very closely — from the windows is a work by Philippe Parreno, a poetic effect in the fountain pools that creates temporary and ethereal technological lily pads that perhaps would appeal to a possible Monet of our century.

Left, Jeff Koons, <em>Balloon Dog (Red)</em>, 1994–2000. © Jeff Koons. Right, Jeff Koons, <em>Balloon Swan (Magenta)</em>, 2004–2011. © Jeff Koons. Photos by Jeff Koons Studio, New York — Left, Jeff Koons, *Balloon Dog (Red)*, 1994–2000. © Jeff Koons. Right, Jeff Koons, *Balloon Swan (Magenta)*, 2004–2011. © Jeff Koons. Photos by Jeff Koons Studio, New York

Parreno is on display at the Fondation Beyeler with an exhibition that coincides with Koons': a single intervention made up of various works, creating a route across the lower floor of the building with drawings, films and sculptures. This is a summer of big names and sensational works for the Swiss museum that should not be missed. Maria Cristina Didero