{"product_id":"my-pretty-pony","title":"My Pretty Pony","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn his 1766 essay on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLaocoön\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, philosopher Gotthold Ephraim Lessing famously argued that painting is a spatial art, operating in space, whereas poetry – and, by extension, fiction – is a temporal art, unfolding in time. From this perspective, reading Stephen King’s short story \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy Pretty Pony\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, illustrated by Barbara Kruger, involves as much a consideration of time as it does of the relationship between verbal and visual art, encapsulated in the principle of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eut pictura poesis\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (“as is painting, so is poetry”), and vice versa.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith its stainless-steel cover and embedded digital clock, which tracks the reader’s time from the moment the book is opened, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy Pretty Pony\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is conceived as a timepiece in its own right. The publication is a self-conscious object whose illustrations and material form mirror and reinterpret the narrative. In the story, an elderly man approaching the end of his life gives his grandson, Clivey, a pocket watch, warning him of the dangers of letting time slip away. The narrative unfolds as a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ememento mori\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, a meditation on mortality, and Kruger’s visual contribution reinforces this theme. Throughout the book, nine lithographs and eight screenprints featuring horses, riders, and a stopwatch give visual form to the story’s meditation on time. Interspersed throughout the publication, Kruger’s signature overlaid words and phrases, when read together, form an aphorism: “Time ain’t got nothing to do with how fast you can count.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished in 1988, this special edition was the sixth in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s artist-and-writer series, following \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDal vero\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (John Hollander and Saul Steinberg, 1983), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCould I Ask You Something?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (Lewis Thomas and Alfonso Ossorio, 1984), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe View\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (Czesław Miłosz and Vija Celmins, 1985), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnnie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam and Tulip\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e(Jamaica Kincaid and Eric Fischl, 1986), and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHiddenness\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (Mei-mei Berssenbrugge and Richard Tuttle, 1987). The special edition was followed in 1989 by a trade edition of 15,000 copies.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55344462758227,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Barbara_Kruger-57.png?v=1791878830","url":"https:\/\/metabooks.art\/products\/my-pretty-pony","provider":"Metabooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}