SUGAR 2002
This series was inspired by the Small French Paintings in the National Gallery in Washington DC. Attracted to their luscious surfaces, rich color, ornate frames and intimate scale I scanned fragments of the soft porn, sexualized images from magazine, media and advertising and painted them in oil and layered pools of varnish. I selected the appropriate candy in terms of flavor, color and style to combine with the image. Botox injected lips, overflowing cleavage, hard round asses, pendulous shapes and soft thighs are my intimate 21st century landscapes. Candy corn, caramels in foil, chocolate kisses float on pigment colored flesh and make their own suggestions. We are as addicted to the erotic human product as we are to the sugar we consume. It is sweet and it is decay. It is kitsch and it is beautiful. Bring on the food disorders, the conflicted consumer; our fetish is sugar, is soft porn, is product, is art.
“Barrioniques does Barrioque”
Washington Square Gallery
San Francisco, CA