In the mid-1990s, amid debates concerning new developments in cloning, genetic engineering, stem-cell research, and interspecies tissue grafting, Rubenstein created a provocative series of photographs in which he digitally inserted dogs’ eyes into school yearbook portraits of children. Merging two paragons of cuteness—kids and puppies—into unsettling hybrids, the artist offers an eerie forewarning of the transgressive potential of genetic manipulation.
