IT’S TIME FOR WINTER TO END. Right now. Make it over by the time you finish reading this sentence. Pretty please?
By this time every year we’ve had it.
The stores are stocked with spring merchandise. If only spring weren’t so many weeks away.
The “cruise wear” is already on the shelves. If only we had a cruise to go on.
Stare at this cheery critter and let him lighten your winter load. For starters, his face is plastered on a beach towel. Ah, the promise of sunshine, sand and a day lounging on Lake Michigan’s balmy shore.
As a bonus, this smiling monkey is art. He’s the creation of artist Jeff Koons (jeffkoons.com), the Pennsylvania-born creator of stainless steel bunnies and 40-foot high topiary puppies (West Highland terriers, to be precise).
Say what you will about his replicas of balloon animals and souvenir-store kitsch, Koons holds the world record as the most expensive living artist, acquired when his 3,500-pound, 9-foot magenta stainless steel heart (with golden bow) sold for $23.6 million at auction last November.
OK, so maybe “Monkey Train (blue)”–the title of this image–isn’t your style. Koons is just one of four popular visual artists whose creations are featured on limited edition towels. The others are photographer Cindy Sherman, and painters Elizabeth Peyton and Kehinde Wiley.
The towels are at Target stores nationwide (target.com) or order through WOW (worksonwhatever.com), a group associated with the non-profit Art Production Fund. The fund’s goal is to make art available to people like us who can’t afford the stuff hanging in museums and private collections.
The $50 towels are huge (60 by 70 inches). So while you wait for that cruise ship to come in (or at least warm weather to arrive), it can double as a blanket as you huddle by the fire and pray for spring.
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— The previous most expensive work by a living artist was Damien Hirst’s “Lullaby Spring,” a steel cabinet holding 6,136 handcrafted pills, which sold for $19.5 million last June.
— The world’s largest cruise ship is the Royal Caribbean’s 3,600-passenger Freedom of the Seas, soon to be eclipsed by the 6,400-passenger Genesis.
Sources: bloomberg.com; royalcaribbean.com.
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Read Ellen’s shopping adviser column every Thursday in the Tribune’s At Play section and join the conversation at chicagotribune.com/ellen. shopellen@tribune.com
