OBJECT OF BEAUTY

2014, Oil on Italian Linen, 120 x 100cm

Occasionally iconography exists that is so prevalent, so much a part of the zeitgeist, it is difficult to maintain perspective on how ridiculous it really is. Think of Santa, so obese he’s not in any shape to climb down chimneys, let alone make it around the world in a single night. At least not without having a stroke, anyway.

And what of the Playboy Bunny? Inspired by the staff uniform at Bunny’s Tavern, itself named after the proprietor Bernard “Bunny” Fitzsimmons, the ultimate showgirl was unveiled in 1960 and somehow the ears, tail, collar and cuffs transcended their own preposterousness to become a global icon.

Imagine if Fitzsimmons had been nicknamed, say, Chook?