WHAT: Jeff Koons, “The Painter” and “The Sculptor.”

WHEN: Through September 23.

WHERE: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Römerberg 6, and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Schaumainkai 71, Frankfurt, Germany.

WHY THIS SHOW MATTERS: Currently, Jeff Koons’s art history-rooted and pop culture-fed work is sprawling across two concurrent exhibitions in Frankfurt: “The Painter” at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and “The Sculptor” at Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung. The comprehensive two-venue survey spans from the beginning of Koons’s career in the 1980s to the present, and was curated by the crack team of Vinzenz Brinkmann of Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Matthias Ulrich of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, and Joachim Pissarro of Hunter College in New York.

The 45 large-scale pieces in “The Painter” chronicle Koons’s development, with selections from recent series like “Easy Fun-Ethereal,” which morphs media images into psychedelic swirls, and older series such as “Made in Heaven” from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with portraits of Koons and his now-ex-wife, Italian pornstar Ilona Staller.

“The Sculptor” showcases over 40 works, including five new sculptures and many recognizable pieces. Similar to his 2008/09 exhibition at Versailles in France, where his balloon creations were installed in the palace chambers, the sculptures are mixed into the permanent galleries. His Venus of Willendorf-inspired “Balloon Venus,” exhibited here for the first time, contrasts its gleaming metallic surface with a room of Roman marbles, while his vulgar “Woman in the Tub” from the “Banality” series is in front of a large altar by 15th-century Italian sculptor Luca della Robbia. In a room of Egyptian sarcophagi, the famous 1988 “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” has the King of Pop’s heavy eyeliner reflecting that of the ancient rulers. 

To see works from the exhibtion click the slide show.