When I first saw those bunnies on the cover of the New York Times Magazine I sort of chuckled and of course my youngest daughter shrieked how cute they were. Then I discovered the images were made by Jeff Koons, and I chuckled again. I’ve always had a hard time taking Koons’ work seriously. Looking through his catalogue I always get the feeling he’s having a laugh at getting one over on the critics and pseudo intellectuals of the art world. Even more so when I learned he hires out the actual production of many of his works to artisans or assistants. I have also been very outspoken in my disdain for his and other post modern artists’ (Richard Prince, Thomas Ruff) liberal theft of the work of photographers to use in their work.
So I remain confused why I like these pictures so much. Perhaps it’s the context of the story, their appearance on Easter Sunday or maybe I simply agree with Aubrey, that they are really, really cute.
The Magazine has been publishing some fantastic photography lately, as it almost always does. Elsewhere in the same issue see Tina Barney’s fantastic portrait of Norris Church Mailer. Or Ashley Gilbertson’s portfolio “The Shrine Down the Hall” from a few weeks ago. It’s a pleasure to have such a source for excellent, challenging imagery in this world of shrinking print media outlets.