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Jeff Koons Is Releasing His First Piece Of Digital Art

For the cover of the seventh issue of GARAGE Magazine, the iconic artist is stepping into new media terrain.

Lead image: Binx Wilson as a Koons bunny by Sølve Sundsbø, courtesy of GARAGE Magazine

For its seventh issue, the bi-annual arts and culture publication GARAGE Magazine is including a surprise on its cover. Still on the coattails of his Whitney Retrospective, Jeff Koons has created his first ever digital artwork for the front of the print edition, though you won't see it online. The piece, titled Lady Bug, is an augmented reality sculpture that can only be viewed on mobile devices through a GARAGE Magazine app, which allows viewers to explore the piece from a variety of angles as if standing on top of it. "Now, anyone with the app can carry a Jeff Koons in their pocket," says a press release.

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The magazine, which officially hits newsstands this Thursday, includes a variety of new media art, besides the virtual reality lady bug. There's an article on artist Halley Mellin about her 3D-printed canvases that she paints over and offers the files to the public, as well as an interview with new media scholar and video artist Hito Steyerl—plus other interactive app experiences like a virtual tour of Henri Mattise's studio in honor of the 60th anniversary of his death.

Michael Polsinelli, the editorial director of GARAGE, explained that the Koons collaboration was a seamless process. "Our thoughts aligned very quickly," he told The Creators Project. "We approached him with an idea to use this technology and suggested it could be fun to work on a cover sculpture. Jeff loved the idea and ran with it in a way that only Jeff Koons could."

Polsinelli added that even though the magazine has often focused on cutting-edge culture, "It's true that it's never been so visible in our arts coverage as in this issue." GARAGE will follow the app and new media-themed issue with an online website of its own. As for Koons' foray into more digital and virtual projects, the editorial director isn't so sure. "It would be great to think so. We always hope that the conversations we have with such important artists are as interesting for them as they always are for us. Of course, Jeff Koons is an incredible artist who we could never lay claim to influencing…"

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To see Koons' Lady Bug, keep an eye out for the newest issue of GARAGE, out this Thursday on newsstands and available to order online here.

Anja Rubik as a Koons bunny by Sølve Sundsbø, courtesy of GARAGE Magazine****

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Augmented Reality Art Takes Over The MoMA