Gastro-Vision | Performing Cotton Candy in a Land of Cockaigne

Will Cotton, Consuming Folly, 2009-2010. Oil on linen, 72 x 96 in. Courtesy the artist and Mary Boone Gallery.

Will Cotton’s candy and pastry-filled landscapes have come to life in recent years, taking the form of a posh pop-up bakery in 2009, and a year later, forming the set of Katy Perry’s music video “California Gurls.” Cotton’s saccharine world materialized again last Friday night at New York’s Prince George Ballroom, where cotton candy took center stage in Cockaigne, the artists’s first live production.

Will Cotton, Cockaigne for Performa 11, 2011. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Scott Catto.

Curated by Stacey Engman for Performa 11, on the one hand, the performance received more hype than it deserved and left some things to be desired. On the other hand, the night was strangely satisfying in that every guest was part of Cotton’s show, an immersive sensory experience that began the minute we crossed the threshold. In a sense, just being there was to become one of the artist’s painted subjects, engulfed by cotton candy in a land of pleasure and plenty.

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