Portraitist Jonathan Yeo tours Pop Life (closing this weekend at Tate Modern), and takes special interest in pointing out the pornographic.

While Pop Life has had no shortage of coverage here and on other sites, the worthiness of Tate’s videos on the exhibition still stand almost two months into the run. Above is a overview of the exhibition with curator Alison Gingeras. After the jump, videos of Hirst’s Twins Jeff Koon’s Rabbit (which was erected in Covent Garden at the beginning of the exhibition run.

Admittedly, these videos do rehash old themes. However, they are engaging in as much as they are about process – both from a museum and artistic process.

Andy Warhol once said, “Good business is good art.” The statement serves as starting point for Pop Life an exhibition opening on October 1, 2009, at the Tate Modern. Proposing the lasting legacy of pop art has found artists infiltrating the commercial world and exploiting the celebrity system, the exhibition may not initial strike as intellectually ground breaking. Yet, the strength will come in what has been drawn together – works from Koons, Haring, and (of course) Hirst. Haring’s “Pop Shop” will be recreated, as will Hirst’s installation of “Identical Twins” (if you are an identical twin, a call for subjects is out, so go ahead and be a part of art).

Complementing the exhibition is a book of same name. The cover is seen above.

Pop Life will run at Tate Modern until January 17, 2010.

Juxtapoz gave a preview of their September 2009 cover today. On board is Japanese pop icon Nara. In the pages are interviews with Zevs, Van’s founder Steve Van Doren, and pop surrealist Todd Schorr. Look for the magazine on newsstands soon.

Opening on July 2, 2009, Jeff Koons’ exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery is subject of a preview slide show from the Guardian. The show is Koons’ first solo show in Britain, and runs until September 13, 2009.

More images follow.

The CCA Art Bus launched last Thursday. The initiative transforms an out of service Liverpool double decker into a mobile art gallery. Touring schools and public venues, the bus brings art to those whose access to cultural institutions might be limited.

The first exhibition on the bus is collection of works by Sir Peter Blake. The exterior of the bus compliments the interiors installation, with eye popping images from Blake’s career.

More on the Art Bus here. (via Switched on Art).

This October, Tate Modern mounts an exhibition driven by a re-reading of pop art and its legacy. The key, since the 1980s artists have successfully driven their own ‘brands,’ through well conceived (mostly) self promotion and c0-opted marketing strategy. Included are some obvious names – Warhol, Koons, Hirst, and Murakami. These figures help to engage the question of not how artists have responded to popular culture, but how they’ve participated themselves in commercialism.

The Artist in the Age of Publicity opens on October 1, 2009 and runs to January 17, 2009. One not to miss, both intellectually and aesthetically.

Apopalyptic brings Mauro Perucchetti’s blend of pop and conceptual art to London for the first time in form of a solo show. Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair plays host, and Perucchetti’s incorporation of familiar pop icons provides soil for social commentary. The exhibition is on view until April 25, 2009. (via Fad).

Perucchetti’s “Route 66″ after the jump.

Having designed for Mo’ Wax, Blue Note and Talkin’ Loud, designer Swifty has a pretty solid reputation. His recent artwork, plays on pop art, and even boasts a direct interpretation of Warhol’s soup cans, will be available at Brick Lane’s Art Car Boot Fair this Sunday. For more on the sale, check their site here. (via the good folks at retro to go ). 

Those of you interested in art have of course heard about Jeff Koons. All the rest of you has probably seen the Supreme skateboard decks designed by the artist. Now Taschen Books has released an exciting book on Jeff Koons.
“From kinky to kitsch to conceptual, Jeff Koons’s art is anything but conformist. Since he stirred up the art world establishment in the 1980s with his unapologetic basketball sculptures and stainless steel toy blow-ups, Koons has been known as somewhat of a bad boy—a reputation he confirmed in the early 90s via works depicting him having sex with then-wife Cicciolina, the Italian porn star-cum-politician. Following this torrid phase, he changed gears to produce the gargantuan Puppy, the 43-foot tall floral terrier that now resides at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Koons’s exploitation of the banal, in the aggrandizement and/or embodiment of kitsch and pop imagery, has become his trademark; detractors may delight in their naysaying, but Koons’s work commands millions at auction and his position at the forefront of contemporary art is indisputable.”
Taschen has now released the book “Koons” in a limited edition of 1′500 numbered and signed copies. The book comes with 606 pages all about this exceptional artist and is now on sale for 750 Euros.
Check out some pages of the book after the jump.