Vanity Fair, November 1991:

Koons's current work was inspired by Ilona Staller's pornographica—both her photographic work and her performances in which she sings and dances naked. "Ilona uses her body in the way another artist uses a paintbrush or a chisel," Koons told me. His manner is puppyish, urgent: his eyes have an earnest glow. He speaks with the soft monotone of a theological seminarian. "She uses her genitalia. And she communicates a very precise language with her genitalia."

Just what do Ilona's genitalia say?

Marina, the interpreter, a fine-boned Venetian with an expression at once alert and baffled, gave a nervous giggle.

"The vocabulary tells you that you can find a lot of beauty in life. You must embrace life. And there's no reason not to have confidence. Life can be really beautiful!"

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