Popeyes 2018

This striking piece by Ben Frost uses the discarded packaging of Popeyes chicken to create something entirely new. The high-key color palette of pinks, reds, and oranges grabs you, it’s so loud and saturated, yet so flat. I’m really drawn to how the artist incorporates the existing design of the box into the composition. He doesn’t try to hide the origin of the canvas, instead he allows the logo, the seams, and the text to coexist with his own additions. The cartoon-like face he’s painted feels unsettling. The huge tears make me think about consumption, waste, and the ways we turn a blind eye to the emotional impact of our choices. Ultimately, this work reminds me of Warhol’s pop art, but with a sharper, more critical edge, a contemporary spin if you will. It questions the easy consumption of images and products in our culture and invites us to reconsider the stories we tell ourselves about desire and satisfaction.