It would be too easy to quip, ‘Who came first?’ Or that Kylie has ‘egg on her face.’ But bigger questions loom, (or might): Does a picture of an egg beating out a picture of a celebrity’s baby in Instagram views speak, in some way, to current online behavior? Or is the very fact that this has all become news (and we are blogging about is) speak to an even deeper malady over how we are all swept up in the mundane?
Photos of Kylie Jenner posing in bondage gear, lying in a box, being held in a rigid ‘chair like’ pose, certainly pay homage to Allen Jones infamous Hatstand, Table and Chair trio of erotic sculptures. As with lots that tickles our more prurient sensibilities (even if it be high art) Jones’ pieces were met with harsh criticism when exhibited in 1970-lots of feminists simply did not take well to women being portrayed as furniture-but have to come to be regarded as a high water mark of 60’s expression. Jones was even contacted by Stanley Kubrick at the time to contribute similar pieces to Kubrick’s soon-to-be-completed A Clockwork Orange (a high water mark for fetishists to be sure) but when no payment was offered Jones demurred, instead giving the famous director permission to expand on Hatstand, Table and Chair’s concept in his own Kubrick-ian furniture for the Korova Milk Bar scene in Clockwork.