Passion Of The Crunch 

Dave Macdowell made this painting called “Passion Of The Crunch” sometime in the late 20th century. The first thing you may notice are the vivid colors, and the swirling vortex that fills the lower half of the composition. Macdowell’s painting references a culture of consumerism, in which we are manipulated from a young age. It uses familiar cartoon figures and imagery to deliver a biting commentary on corporate power. The artist uses meat cleavers and meat to remind us of the animal origin of some of our products. Macdowell’s piece may echo some of the “lowbrow” or “pop surrealist” art of the period, which took inspiration from the mass media and commercial imagery that increasingly pervaded everyday life in America. To understand the painting better, we might look into research on advertising and marketing, as well as visual culture from the period. By looking at the painting in its cultural context, we can begin to grasp the power of art to critique the culture of its time.