Jeff Koons @ Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Kitsch, vulgar, delightfully banal and knowingly so; look up a definition of post modernism and Jeff Koons ticks every box. Always bright, interesting and saturated with irony, this extended collection of his work in the Artist Rooms of the National Gallery of Modern Art will consist of pieces mainly from the 80s and 90s.

In recent years Koons has become even more magpie-like in his pursuit of colour and reflection as he constructs glimmering balloon animals from highly glossed porcelain, harking back to the same subject in his remarkable paintings from the 90s. But in his earlier work Koons’ desire to both mock and embrace the very disposability of modern consumerism is equally as strong. His ready-mades constructed from hoovers and strip-lights provide a playfulness with not only consumerism but the art establishment itself and never more is popular culture made to look ridiculous as with his polychrome wooden sculptures. A collection of sculpted flowers, that would not be out of place in granny’s living room, nestled between a chintzy sofa and some little porcelain ladies, cannot but make one smile. And then there’s the oversized polychrome bears, Disney-fied and holding hands with cheery smiles like some kind of nightmare on Main Street USA. We are made to question why it is we would immortalise such garish grotesquery in our homes, and while Koons’ homage to the familiar nick-nacks are sexed-up, remarkably, it is no more bizarre than the real thing.

Advertising is a similarly potent inspiration for Koons’ work as he both embraces and mocks the modern and post-modern ages with his Ad Portfolio works. This, alongside the aforementioned ready-mades, constructed from vacuums and floor-polishers, provides the same chuckle we have watching episodes of glitzy, retro television programme Mad Men as we marvel at their reaction to what have since become the most banal of appliances.

With his extensive catalogue of work Koons challenges industrialisation and mass production as well as our perception of what embodies aesthetic beauty. He does so with a wry smile, rather than a profound sense of judgement, that makes any exhibition of his well worth a visit.