Jeff Koons is, without a doubt, the quintessential artist of our age: as bland and reassuring as a bowl of oatmeal, about as deep as a puddle, and more concerned about how much his work sells for than what it says. A hater's guide.

https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/the-balloon-doggies-demanded-it

Key sources for this episode include Don Thompson's The $12 Million Stuffed Shark; Jed Perl's "The Cult of Jeff Koons"; Hans Werner Holzwarth's Koons monograph; Norman Rosenthal's Jeff Koons: Conversations with Norman Rosenthal; Robert Hughes's American Visions; and so many gallery catalogues, including the ones for his 2000 Easyfun-Ethereal exhibition, his 2002 Kunsthaus Bregenz exhibition, his 2014 Whitney Retrospective, and the Tate Modern's 2009 "Pop Life" exhibition.

Photo by Neil R. (Cropped every so slightly from original)

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to the idea that that which is least known is best to know. Each episode we share a strange story or amazing fact, and no topic is off limits -- if it's interesting or entertaining, we'll cover about it!

Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/order-of-the-jackalope.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/uEVrmKZzq2
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@orderjackalope

For a long time it was just a hole in the ground. Then, for twelve months, it was the fifth-largest city in Pennsylvania and the biggest oil field in the world. And then, just as abruptly, it was a hole inthe ground again.

https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/skeedaddled-and-gone-to-hell

Key sources for this episode include Brian Black's Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom; Ernest C. Miller's Pennsylvania's Oil Industry; John J. McLaurin's Sketches in Crude Oil; the autobiography of Ida M. Tarbell; and most importantly, William C Darragh's Pithole: The Vanished City.

The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to the idea that that which is least known is best to know. Each episode we share a strange story or amazing fact, and no topic is off limits -- if it's interesting or entertaining, we'll cover about it!

• Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/order-of-the-jackalope.com
• Discord: https://discord.gg/uEVrmKZzq2
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@orderjackalope

Welcome to the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Chocolope, where I dive into topics too nerdy for a Chocolate Snobs episode and too chocolate-oriented for an Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope entry. Today, we ask: "How much chocolate is in your chocolate?"

https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/how-much-chocolate/
https://chocolate-snobs.com