My recent figurative work explores both art historical and contemporary representations of women as cultural signifiers of excess and desire. Both painted and digital imagery of women eating and/or wearing food becomes a very literal metaphor for the notion of “women as consumers and the consumed”. The How much do you really need? series evolved through materials-based experimentation with food as paint. Although the figure has disappeared, the body remains: indulgent, oozing, messy, changing, fragile- vulnerable to time and the elements.
The documentation from this series represents the work in some of its various manifestations. Due to the fragile nature of the materials and verticality of the paintings, it is necessary for me to “perform” this piece anew for each installation. Temperature, lighting and gravity will all impact and transform the piece throughout the duration of the installation. I see these changes as intrinsic to the content of the work and a way for painting to exist as a time-based medium in its own right.
In its initial incarnation, this piece shared a direct relationship to the Good Eaters video that was projected in the same intimate space; however, subsequent paintings with the same materials have been created to exist on their own.