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.

Gastro-Vision: Whack! Contemporary Artists and Piñatas

Aaron Krach, "Indestructible Object," 2009. Pinata, copper leaf, chocolate, Plexi. 30 x 18 x 8 inches. Edition: 1/3. Courtesy the artist and DCKT.

"Gastr0-Vision" is my monthly column on the Art21 blog. It is dedicated to all things food in contemporary art and visual culture. Here's an excerpt from this month's post:

The much-talked-about Andy Warhol piñata, created by Jennifer Rubell for last month’s Brooklyn Ball, offered a witty art spin on an old party tradition. Instead of the usual candy contents, this piñata spilled Hostess brand snack cakes, icons of American junk food culture, redolent of Warhol’s work in pop art. Given the amount of art world enthusiasm about the piece, it seems a good moment to look at piñatas as an art form. Rubell is not the first to make clever use of this sweet-filled object. What follows is by no means an exhaustive history of artist’s piñatas, but a look at some recent ones that, similar to Rubell’s, were stuffed with small treats and big concepts.

Continue reading...

A Mixed Bag (5.14.10)

Narcissister, Tony Stamolis from "Hot Lunch," 2009. Courtesy the artist.

Narcissister performs at The Kitchen this weekend with her cast of masked companions. She will debut This Masquerade, a series of performances that critique pop culture’s "spurious" ideas about black femininity. Show times and wait list info here.

Fat vs. Phat: Blogger Tasha Fierce on the under representation of black plus size models in mainstream fashion.

Speaking From the Diaphragm: Berlin-based performance artist Vaginal Davis will present live and Skype guests from the worlds of literature, dance, theatre, film and art (including Kembra Pfahler and Derrick Adams). May 15-27 @ PS122.

Heaven's Lemons: Braided lemon bread, candied lemon slices, and a nicely photographed lemon twist.

Field of Gold: In 1982, artist Agnes Denes planted and harvested two acres of wheat in lower Manhattan. See documentation of this Public Art Fund project in the current issue of Red Flag.

Get SmArt: This summer, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council will offer a professional development workshop for artists. Registration is now open. Participants will be selected by lottery.

Get a Job: MoMA/PS1 seeks a curatorial assistant in Performance and Contemporary Practice.

Retire Ronald: A call for the hamburger clown to hang up his big red shoes.

Food Party: IFC has launched the second season of this crazy cooking and puppetry show by Brooklyn-based artist Thu Tran. Tuesday nights at 10pm.

Munchies in Motion: Eat your way through New York City's Greenwich Village on a food scavenger hunt. May 30 @ 1pm.

NYC Food Film Festival: This year's festival includes the world’s first food truck drive-in movie.

Abalicious: Peek behind the scenes of Annie Leibovitz's photo shoot with several six-packed World Cup players.

World Cup Cupcakes.

On Games: The Post Family/Bad at Sports sheds some light on childhood games like Kickball, and (ick) Smear the Queer.

Mile High: Nine cultural institutions are open to the public free of charge for New York's annual Museum Mile Festival. June 8, 6-9pm.

White Flight, Part II: America's suburbs are now more likely to be home to minorities.

Oaxacan Cinnamon Chocolate Macaroons.