BY: TARA BURKE 

This past weekend Cailin, a few friends and I went to the Jeff Koons: A Retrospective exhibit at The Whitney. The exhibit runs through October 19th and we have wanted to go since it opened in June, so we decided to go before time ran out on us. Did September go by really fast or is it just me? We went on a pay-what-you-wish night (Fridays 6-9pm) and arrived around 7:30pm. There was a line so beware. I don’t think we would have made it in time if it weren’t for our lovely friend using her museum employee pass. As a result, we’d recommend getting there early if you plan on going on a Friday night.

We did the museum in quite a backwards way, starting on the second floor then proceeding to the fourth floor, third floor, first floor and then back up to the fifth floor. It ended up being kind of a fun way to see his pieces. The second floor is filled with a lot of his work featuring everyday consumer items. This is a good starting point for seeing his work since it is one of his central themes in his pieces.

Next we saw his series: Celebration, which houses iconic pieces like Balloon Dog. We had all only seen pictures of Jeff Koons’ famous work with aluminium, so it was really fun to see it in person. We realllly wanted to touch a lot of the pieces in the Popeye series since they look exactly like inflatable pool toys. I don’t think anyone at first glance would guess these works are made from metal.

After taking a few shameless selfies in the mirror polished artwork we made our way through the rest of the museum. Overall, it was a great exhibition! If you’re in the area you still have a few more weeks to see it. You can even drag some non-artsy type friends with you since this exhibit is sure to entertain.