J. Seward Johnson, Jr’s cheesy sex sculptures of the Sultan of Brunei & his girlfriend (via Daily Beast); right, Jeff Koons, “Dirty Jeff on Top” (1991) (via www.guardian.co.uk)
The recent case of the younger brother of the dictator Sultan of Brunei’s sex sculptures makes us wonder why the southeast Asia monarch didn’t just commission Jeff Koons, who knows a thing or two, three, maybe ten, about sex sculptures. I can’t believe I’m going to write this but Koons looks almost tasteful in comparison.
Coincidentally, the Koons paintings (always worse than his sculptures) from the same Made in Heaven series we mention are currently on display at Luxembourg & Dayan on the Upper East Side.
You may be interested to know that critic Roberta Smith has some harsh words for the painting show in today’s New York Times: “painting is too strong a word for these inkjet monstrosities on canvas from 1990-91 … they are thoroughly repellent as both art objects and images …” Yikes, honestly Smith, tell us how you really feel. Though I wonder what she would think about Johnson’s … um … more subtle works.
Image sources: Johnson, Koons, homepage image
