Bunny Sipping Champagne, Playboy 1964

This is LeRoy Neiman’s “Bunny Sipping Champagne, Playboy,” made with oil on board. Here, Neiman’s process is critical: the thick impasto and loose brushstrokes give the image an energy that a more polished style would lack. The material itself seems to embody a kind of pleasure. The oil paint, applied with gestural immediacy, captures a certain social milieu – the leisure time of the jet set. Neiman made a career portraying this world, from the Playboy Mansion to the Olympics. But this image is especially telling, as it shows the extent to which “lifestyle” is a carefully constructed fantasy. The artist’s bravura handling of his materials, in a way, sells the dream. So, when we look at artwork like this, it's essential to consider the materials and processes that brought it into being, challenging any assumed boundaries between fine art and the wider world.