Untitled (advertisement for waffle iron) c. 1950

This vintage advertisement for a waffle iron was shot by Robert Burian, and look at how he's got the negative playing tricks on us. Instead of the rich gold-brown of a perfect waffle, we get these eerie, inverted tones. You know, that inky blackness, it’s like looking into the future of breakfast, or maybe its goth cousin. There is an interesting mix of textures here, the shiny surfaces of the appliance juxtaposed with the grid-like pattern of the waffle grids, and the smooth, glossy, almost radioactive, texture of the cooked waffles. It’s like the artist is saying: Hey, look at what I can do with light, with contrast, with the everyday. The high-key lighting kind of reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's early photo paintings, like he's wrestling with the same questions about realism and representation, but with breakfast! Art's just an ongoing conversation, right? So, maybe this waffle iron is whispering sweet nothings to a Richter squeegee painting somewhere. Who knows? It’s all up for grabs!