Eye Candy: Jeff Vespa's Burgers

Jeff Vespa, Burgers series. Polaroid, 8 x 10 or 20 x 24 in. All images courtesy the artist.

Artist and celebrity photographer Jeff Vespa has been photographing burgers around Los Angeles for the past few years. These large-format Polaroids were published in New York Times Magazine in 2006; and exhibited at Rush Arts Gallery in New York that same year. Currently, a selection of Vespa's Burgers are on view at Scion Space in Culver City, California. They are included in the exhibition Palate, which explores artists' use of food as muse and medium.


Vespa says of Burgers:

I have driven cross country several times and I am always was fascinated by the diners you encounter along the way...These diners always have laminated menus with photos of food. The photos are like clip art stock photos from the 1950's -- not photographs of food that the restaurant is actually serving. I had the idea that I wanted to be the photographer that shot those photographs that ended up on laminated menus. Back in L.A., it came to me that I could do that...as an art piece. I decided I would shoot photos of all the fast food hamburgers in L.A. ...It is kind of a play on pop art because the image is instantly recognizable and when you see so many in repetition it reminds you of Warhol. However, each burger is only shot once on Polaroid which makes each piece one of a kind, just like the actual burger. [These images] make you look at what you are eating, because when you eat a burger you don’t actually ever look at it. You just stuff it in your face.

Vespa's photos appear regularly in major publications, including Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, Newsweek, People, and GQ. He is co-founder of the global photo agency WireImage, as well as Life.com editor-at-large.

Palate continues through June 12. Watch a trailer for the exhibition on Vimeo.