Marissa Mayer treating Google as her personal salon
The Google homepage today features a photo of chrome tulips by famous artist Jeff Koons. Google has hired a bunch of artists and designers to create themes as a way of promoting the iGoogle homepage. And their choices read like a veritable "who's who" of name-brand, commercial types who create work that isn't particularly daring or challenging.
I mean, c'mon, Anne Geddes, the woman who made a name for herself by Photoshopping babies into floral patterns? I'm just surprised there's no work by Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light. It also made me pause to wonder about Marissa Mayer's self-interest. For instance, glass-blower Dale Chihuly makes an appearance, and Mayer just happens to own work by him. Seems like a great way to improve the value of her own collection by helping to popularize the artist and his work.