HomeTopicsEnvironment protectionChemicals managementLeadLead in ceramic crockery and pottery-making Lead in ceramic crockery and pottery-makingIt's probably no surprise that Damien Hirst owns a lot of works by Jeff Koons. After all, these two have common ground - they're both provocateurs, both divisive artists. And now, Damien has put his own collection of Jeff Koons works on display in his Newport Street Gallery, which opened last year. Over thirty works have been curated together (the show was jointly curated by Damien and Jeff) and they cover most of Jeff's career, from 1980 to the present day. The familiar eye-catching pieces are there, including his brightly-coloured sculptures that look like balloons or inflatable toys for swimming pools (though these are, in fact, made from steel and aluminium). There's also the vacuum cleaners, vivid canvases of Lego pieces and plastic horses, a huge bowl of eggs, and his famous basketballs suspended in water. But I'm always conflicted when looking at works from Jeff Koons - is this an artist reflecting back at us our own shallow culture and society, or is this just shallow art?

There is something admirable in the craftsmanship of some of his works, particularly the stainless steel pieces that look like balloons blown up to bursting point. Their surfaces seem so taught and shiny - you want to lean in and prick them with pins, as if you were to burst an actual balloon. And there was a wry observation to Jeff's series of work on Nike posters from the 1980s. There is powerful social critique in these images of famous black American basketball players dressed in suits and ties and passed off as "The Boardroom" or "Secretary of Defense". Indeed, little has changed - the boardroom is still a white man's place. But now, when you look at these posters which were made in 1985, all you feel is a sense of cultural appropriation - that Jeff Koons has made millions of dollars printing out these posters, the rights to which he bought from Nike. Is the artist now blind to his own privilege? Isn't this just the rich white man just getting richer off exploiting dangerously misleading advertising to black kids?

But, looking at these works, the desperation to shock feels almost palpable. And that stretches from Jeff's notorious Made in Heaven series, which basically is just rather narcissistic explicit pictures of him and his then-wife having sex, created in 1991, right up to the current day with Balloon Monkey (Blue), a giant stainless steel balloon animal that towers above you (it's only when you look down on it from the first floor that you realise this is, in fact, a giant inflatable penis). The artist may try to say his works are challenge notions of taste but, really, it's just trying way too hard. And so you sigh, take a deep breath, and think, 'really? Is this all you've got to offer?' For none of this ever hits below the surface. And then you see the giant mound of Play-Doh that almost swallows up a whole gallery in the exhibition (again, aluminium) and you realise that even if Jeff did have something to say back in the 1980s, that all seems to have evaporated. So, despite these tired attempts to shock and outrage, I actually left the gallery much as I went in.

The days of this art being revolutionary, I think, are gone. Burt what do you think? Admission to Newport Street Gallery is free and the Gallery has launched its Summer Lates opening hours to coincide with this exhibition (the Gallery will remain open until 10pm every Saturday) so why not go along and see how you feel , how you react to one of the art world's great provocateurs.4 Bedroom Houses For Sale In Plymouth Uk Newport Street Gallery, London to October 16, 2016Red Golden Retriever Puppies For Sale In Ky 1. Titi, 2004-2009 © Jeff KoonsWholesale House Of Marley 2. Three Ball 50-50 Tank (Spalding Dr. JK Silver Series), 1985 © Jeff Koons 3. Bowl with Eggs (Pink), 1994-2009 © Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons Damien Hirst London Art London Art Exhibitions UK ArtThis is less a post on how to DIY with gold leaf, and more an update to tell you about my own experience in case you’re wanting to attempt it! The good news: it was surprisingly easy, scared as I was to ruin the amazing mirror we had found at a thrift store. The bad news: if you don’t have a vacuum cleaner, don’t even attempt this type of project.Major props to Jenny and her gold leafing DIY post on Little Green Notebook, which I basically memorized before embarking on this project. It was really helpful, though my own frame had one major difference from hers (which we’ll get to in a sec). As I mentioned before, I used this gold leaf kit, which I bought off Amazon. It comes with 25 sheets of gold leaf, which based on Jenny’s post, I was hoping would be enough. My mirror was smooth and perfectly finished, and didn’t need to be cleaned or sanded at all, so I got to work applying the adhesive size, waited for it to dry completely clear, and then started adhering the gold leaf.

Here’s what I found (plus, some more pics of my finished mirror): Because my mirror has so many beveled edges on the frame, the gold leaf would get stuck in some areas, pull taut, and not press into the nooks and cranies. So sometimes the leaf would rip, and there was a LOT of going back and filling in gaps with extra little pieces of leaf. Even now, there are some ‘cracks’ in the finished product, which we’ve left because we like the patina-ed, antiquey, non-perfect look it gives, but if that’s not the look you’re going for, gold leafing can be difficult. On any surface that’s not completely flat with right angled edges (like Jenny’s frame), the leaf WILL rip, it’s just a fact of life. I’m leaving some of the gaps in our frame for now, but I might go back and do a little more patch work in the future. Jenny said she used one pack for a 55″ frame, so I thought I’d be set with one pack too. Homegirl is amazing at crafting and DIY stuff, whereas I am a newbie at best, so she was probably a lot more efficient at laying out the gold leaf than I was.

I used up one pack, and had to order another one to finish the job. All in all, I would guess I used about 40 sheets of gold leaf. If you’re not sure, I would go ahead and buy extra. During the first round of leafing, I used a soft 1″ foam brush to paint on the adhesive, and then another clean one to gently poke the gold leaf into all the nooks and cranies. The second time around, I used my fingers and a soft cloth. The results with the dry foam brush were MUCH better. At the end of the project, once things are dried and set, you can definitely run a cloth over the gold leaf to smooth it out and give it a burnished look, but having the foam brush just made things easier from the get go. Do yourself a favor and pick up 2 or 3 from your hardware store before you start (they’re less than $1 each!). During round 1, I taped some trash bags to the floor, but the plastic created static and just made things difficult as I tried to gold leaf. The second time around, I just left the floor bare (so dumb) and accidentally spilled the little bottle of adhesive, which led to a frantic clean up sesh.

I’m the queen of taking shortcuts during these things, and I always regret it, so take it from me: just tape some old newspaper down on the floor. We (unsurprisingly) don’t get a newspaper delivered here, but I could’ve saved myself the panic attack had I walked to the corner and grabbed one of those free daily newspapers. Having the paper down will help catch any swipes of adhesive that you might miss as you apply it to the sides of your frame, and it also catches those little flakes of gold leaf. And on that note… Gold leafing is kind of messy work. It didn’t really bother me, because we have a nice, big vacuum cleaner that I ran over the area after it was done, but I highly recommend you attempt any gold leafing on a hard surface, not on a rug or carpet or anything like that. Those flakes are gossamer thin, and will float and stick everywhere. Even though I worked on my mirror on a wood surface, I’m still finding little flakes of gold leaf on the rug several feet away.