Jeff Koons Returns to Frieze New York with Monumental Hulk Elvis Sculptures, Celebrating Nearly 25 Years with Gagosian
This year at Frieze, Gagosian gallery will present three major sculptures from Jeff Koons' Hulk Elvis series at Frieze New York 2025, marking nearly a quarter-century of collaboration between the gallery and one of contemporary art’s most polarizing figures. The solo presentation—opening May 7th at The Shed—offers a rare opportunity to revisit a body of work that integrates American pop iconography with spiritual symbolism and art historical relevance.
The exhibition features Hulk (Organ) (2004–14), Hulk (Tubas) (2004–18), and Hulk (Dragon and Turtle) (2004–21)—monumental mixed-media sculptures drawn from Koons’ personal collection. Installed against a custom vinyl backdrop composed of fragments from Triple Hulk Elvis III (2007), the presentation creates an immersive environment that amplifies the theatricality and symbolic density of the works.
Created over nearly two decades, the Hulk Elvis series exemplifies Koons’ distinctive visual vernacular: high-gloss surfaces, colossal scale, and the collision of kitsch and transcendence. Central to the series is the Hulk—a figure first introduced in Marvel Comics in 1962—reimagined by Koons not as a pop-cultural emblem of brute strength, but as a liminal figure occupying the space between Western comic-book mythology and Eastern guardian deities.
“The Hulk represents a duality that shifts from a superhero to a divine being,” Koons has said, describing the character as both protector and destroyer—a tension that recurs throughout his work. This dual symbolism is further activated by the inclusion of functioning musical elements: Hulk (Organ) features a fully playable organ, while Hulk (Tubas) is ringed by a phalanx of bronze tuba bells, their form at once comical and sublime.
Beyond their formal inventiveness, the Hulk Elvis works speak to Koons’ long-running investigation into the legacy of the readymade and anthropomorphic qualities within consumer culture. The sculptures’ pneumatic forms and polished surfaces recall inflatable toys, but are cast in bronze and brass, lending them a deceptive permanence. As in much of Koons’ practice, the line between sincerity and spectacle is intentionally blurred.
Koons has taken an unusually hands-on role in this exhibition, overseeing everything from object selection to booth design and layout. This degree of authorship reflects collapsing the boundary between art and display, object and environment, studio and showroom.
The presentation arrives at a moment of recalibration for Koons, whose market dominance and critical reputation have shifted over the past decade. By revisiting Hulk Elvis, the Frieze showing offers a chance to assess the depth—and the contradictions—of his long-standing engagement with consumer culture and its mythologies.
Jeff Koons’ Hulk Elvis series will be on view at Booth B5, Gagosian, at Frieze New York 2025, from May 7–11th at The Shed.