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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Critic rating
Reader rating
Description: Large-scale paintings combining elements of the figurative and the abstract.
Phone: 0207841 9960
Website: www.gagosian.com
Email: london@gagosian.com
Trains: Tube: King's Cross 
Weird: Jeff Koons's Monkey Train
Since Jeff Koons's work is all about celebrating advertising and branding, the new Gagosian Gallery, just off Oxford Street, is a tellingly apt setting for part of his latest London exhibition, Popeye. Little more than a narrow strip of gleaming white-walled space, it resembles a department store window more than a gallery.
As everything you need to see is visible through the glass - in this case, aluminium casts of inflatable paddling pool toys painted to perfectly replicate the original plastic - we're also presented with a rather nice metaphor for the transparency of Koons's work. After all, as he himself insists, he doesn't invest his works with hidden layers of meaning that ponderously talk of commodification and the market - he just wants to present nice objects that make 'people feel happy'.
Still, the weirdness of Koons's world is inescapable. Not wanting to labour the dark or sinister edge to his creations, his fixation on the saccharine is faintly creepy.
The huge canvases that make up his Hulk Elvis display at Gagosian's more spacious Britannia Street site have echoes of Lichtenstein and Warhol - but row upon row of plastic monkey faces (such as on Monkey Train, pictured), grimacing Hulks and dozens of other repeated images can have a disconcerting effect.
Until Jul 27, Gagosian Gallery, 17-19 Davies Street W1 and 6-24 Britannia Street WC1, Mon to Sat 10am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7841 9960. Tube: Bond Street (for Davies Street) and King's Cross (for Britannia Street)
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
