Gold Medal for Porn

Someone once asked me what I thought of Jeff Koons. I replied that Jeff Koons is to Art what Larry Flint is to Literature.
So, I do not have a very high opinion of him or his work. You could google him to see what kind of work he does, but be careful as much of his early work was actual pornographic images of him and his wife, who just so happened to be an Italian porn star. Amazingly that marriage only lasted a year, just long enough to shoot the photos. Seems odd that an artist that sells large scale prints of he and his wife having sex as "art" would not be able to maintain a long term relationship.
Anyway, for some reason on January 29th the National Arts Club decided to give him a Gold medal. Apparently they consider him to be an icon. If he is an icon, he is a very unfortunate one that is, as the story states, "an exemplar of 80s inflation, too commercial, narcissistic". I am sure he will have an assistant melt the medal down to make some idol to his greatness.
Anyway, here is an interesting little mention again of the medal and recent court case he was involved in. You will not be surprised to know that Damien Hirst lists Koons as an influence.