10/17/2005: "Father" art installation

Undertoad · 10-17-2005, 04:37 PM

Found on a random LiveJournal page. What we have here is an art installation by artist Melissa Martin. It's called "Father". The artist took a cast of her father to get the right dimensions, and then sculpted him.

But not out of meat. What you see there is chewing gum. Chewed and then sculpted.

You can find the gallery's website here, and the PDF of the press release for the work is here. The site's description is short, and I'm sure they won't mind if I steal it:

To prepare this work, Martin is performing a sort of cannibalistic patricide. But the “meat” in Martin’s sculpture is a little too perfect: the well-grained flesh is a red worthy of an Omaha Steak; the fat, a creamy white; the marrow, an almost gem-like purple. Dozens of steaks, roasts, and organ meats sit in their own shrink-wrapped styrofoam trays waiting in a supermarket-style refrigerator for hungry shoppers to toss into their carts. The way the cuts are arranged, however, might make you halt: it’s a human form lying in an oversized refrigerator. It’s all the 6’6” of the artist’s father's body anatomically sculpted with nearly 300 pounds of chewing gum.

Father is a display of butcher-style meat cuts. These are individually packaged in plastic-wrapped styrofoam trays, and placed in proximity to their anatomical origin in a custom-built, commercial refrigerator— coincidentally termed a ‘coffin’ by the supermarket equipment industry. During the exhibition period, these pieces that make up Father will be for sale and the sculpture will progressively decrease in size, with the possibility of entirely disappearing.

capnhowdy · 10-17-2005, 04:47 PM

The artist HAD to hire a lot of people to help chew all the gum. If not she prolly has a sore as hell jaw. This is another wierd piece. But that's cool.....It's freakin ART!
Now I wonder what the artist's father's comments on the sculpture were. I never knew you could lay something on a table and call it sculpture. Learn something every day.
The father must be a real meathead.

Elspode · 10-17-2005, 05:05 PM

Sick, twisted, repulsive...I love it!

Very, very creative.

Lizsun · 10-17-2005, 05:07 PM

The entire idea tells me that this is a person who is terribly bored. She needs to work on finding some more appealing ideas.
ME
http://lettingmebe.blogspot.com

darclauz · 10-17-2005, 11:19 PM

why would you feel a need to sculpt your father out of chewing gum? beef might indicate some abuse, i guess...toilet paper might be contempt. what is chewing gum saying? some kind of need to get through who he is, digest him, cannibalize? finding him unpalatable? finding him plastic? making his beef used gum might be seeing her father as a sham, as something so low as to be trash instead of what might be top grade chow.

wolf? your insight?

darclauz · 10-17-2005, 11:20 PM

someone who has decided to dupe the art industry and make a hell of a lot of money selling used gum? someone whose father caught her chewing gum in church and told her she'd never make anything from her life?

Bullitt · 10-17-2005, 11:43 PM

Gum is cheap, won't spoil and smell like ground beef, easily shaped, and looks convincing. Need any more reasons?

wolf · 10-18-2005, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darclauz

wolf? your insight?

Chewing gum is non-nutritious. It gives us nothing and leaves us with tooth decay and a strained jaw. You can blow neat bubbles, but they pop, leaving you surprised, disappointed, and covered in cloyingly sweet goo. Like male parents, it's non-essential to our lives. The only relationship the artist had with her father was what she could get out of him, rather than what he was made of.

Either that, or it's just fucking weird and pointless crap, like most modern art.

dar512 · 10-18-2005, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

Either that, or it's just fucking weird and pointless crap, like most modern art.

Wolf --> nail --> head.

wah · 10-18-2005, 11:45 AM

I just want to know what she was thinking while she was chewing what was to become his penis.

xoxoxoBruce · 10-18-2005, 12:28 PM

Life chewed him up and packaged him for disposal......normal.

barefoot serpent · 10-18-2005, 02:15 PM

Life's a bitch and then you're rendered in chewing gum.

or the real deal:
The Visible Human Project

kelliekd · 10-18-2005, 08:29 PM

Do I sense an Oedipus aspect of this? A cast of her father used to make a sculpture with a penis? And she made the cast? Yep, just a chance to see what cannot be unseen.

Scopulus Argentarius · 10-19-2005, 12:52 AM

sees her father as a hulking spectre of meat, eh...

xoxoxoBruce · 11-17-2005, 05:03 PM

The sale is on. Then click "exibitions", and click on the picture of packaged meat. 2nd item down.
A thigh steak goes as high as $393 but you can have a testicle for a mere $8.49.

10-17-2005, 04:37 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	10/17/2005: "Father" art installation Found on a random LiveJournal page. What we have here is an art installation by artist Melissa Martin. It's called "Father". The artist took a cast of her father to get the right dimensions, and then sculpted him. But not out of meat. What you see there is chewing gum. Chewed and then sculpted. You can find the gallery's website here, and the PDF of the press release for the work is here. The site's description is short, and I'm sure they won't mind if I steal it: To prepare this work, Martin is performing a sort of cannibalistic patricide. But the “meat” in Martin’s sculpture is a little too perfect: the well-grained flesh is a red worthy of an Omaha Steak; the fat, a creamy white; the marrow, an almost gem-like purple. Dozens of steaks, roasts, and organ meats sit in their own shrink-wrapped styrofoam trays waiting in a supermarket-style refrigerator for hungry shoppers to toss into their carts. The way the cuts are arranged, however, might make you halt: it’s a human form lying in an oversized refrigerator. It’s all the 6’6” of the artist’s father's body anatomically sculpted with nearly 300 pounds of chewing gum. Father is a display of butcher-style meat cuts. These are individually packaged in plastic-wrapped styrofoam trays, and placed in proximity to their anatomical origin in a custom-built, commercial refrigerator— coincidentally termed a ‘coffin’ by the supermarket equipment industry. During the exhibition period, these pieces that make up Father will be for sale and the sculpture will progressively decrease in size, with the possibility of entirely disappearing.

10-17-2005, 04:47 PM	#2
capnhowdy Blatantly Homosapien Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,200	The artist HAD to hire a lot of people to help chew all the gum. If not she prolly has a sore as hell jaw. This is another wierd piece. But that's cool.....It's freakin ART! Now I wonder what the artist's father's comments on the sculpture were. I never knew you could lay something on a table and call it sculpture. Learn something every day. The father must be a real meathead. __________________ Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please.

10-17-2005, 05:05 PM	#3
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	Sick, twisted, repulsive...I love it! Very, very creative. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

10-17-2005, 11:19 PM	#5
darclauz Breathing into a paper bag Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 334	why would you feel a need to sculpt your father out of chewing gum? beef might indicate some abuse, i guess...toilet paper might be contempt. what is chewing gum saying? some kind of need to get through who he is, digest him, cannibalize? finding him unpalatable? finding him plastic? making his beef used gum might be seeing her father as a sham, as something so low as to be trash instead of what might be top grade chow. wolf? your insight? __________________ Taking up smoking to lose weight.

10-17-2005, 11:20 PM	#6
darclauz Breathing into a paper bag Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 334	someone who has decided to dupe the art industry and make a hell of a lot of money selling used gum? someone whose father caught her chewing gum in church and told her she'd never make anything from her life? __________________ Taking up smoking to lose weight.

10-17-2005, 05:07 PM	#4
Lizsun Complex Simpleton Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 18	The entire idea tells me that this is a person who is terribly bored. She needs to work on finding some more appealing ideas. ME http://lettingmebe.blogspot.com

10-17-2005, 11:43 PM	#7
Bullitt This is a fully functional babe lair Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,324	Gum is cheap, won't spoil and smell like ground beef, easily shaped, and looks convincing. Need any more reasons? __________________ Kiss my white Irish ass. Last edited by Bullitt; 10-17-2005 at 11:47 PM.

10-18-2005, 11:45 AM	#10
wah Vivacious Vivisectionist Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 36	I just want to know what she was thinking while she was chewing what was to become his penis.

10-18-2005, 12:28 PM	#11
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Life chewed him up and packaged him for disposal......normal. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

10-18-2005, 02:15 PM	#12
barefoot serpent go ahead, abbrev. it Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS Posts: 2,623	Life's a bitch and then you're rendered in chewing gum. or the real deal: The Visible Human Project

10-18-2005, 08:29 PM	#13
kelliekd Internet window-shopper Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ga Posts: 37	Do I sense an Oedipus aspect of this? A cast of her father used to make a sculpture with a penis? And she made the cast? Yep, just a chance to see what cannot be unseen.

10-19-2005, 12:52 AM	#14
Scopulus Argentarius Your current user title is: Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: BTR Posts: 301	sees her father as a hulking spectre of meat, eh...

11-17-2005, 05:03 PM	#15
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	The sale is on. Then click "exibitions", and click on the picture of packaged meat. 2nd item down. A thigh steak goes as high as $393 but you can have a testicle for a mere $8.49. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. Last edited by xoxoxoBruce; 11-17-2005 at 05:06 PM.

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