Advanced Life Drawing : Food Porn

For the hybrid body assignment, I decided to combine the human body with food – not just any food, but junk food in particular. I first wanted to focus on the objectification of the human body, and how it makes us reduce a whole person into parts. I thought of how people alter their bodies to make themselves more desirable, just like how in this day and age, the food we eat is made more sugary or more fatty to become more desirable as well. One of the main things that came to mind was the infamous Carl’s Jr ads, in which scantily clad women with large breasts and tiny waists eat cheeseburgers seductively. That nonsensical position that exists in the ads made me make the parallels between sexual objectification and the “seduction” of unhealthy food.

In the piece I have the figure of a man and a woman, their body parts in detached pieces and junk food replacing their sexual body parts. The figures are posed in very sexual positions. The male figure is extremely masculine and the female figure is ultra feminine, to emphasize the way idealized male and female bodies are portrayed in advertisements and pornography. The detachment of the body parts addresses the fact that we often focus on parts of the body rather than the entire individual. The detachment of the heads in particular is meant to show that aesthetics can often overpower our views of who a person is inside.

I haven’t done too much collage before and was unsure of how to approach it. But combining the concept of collage so closely with the concept really helped to convey the message I was trying to communicate. Turning my drawing itself into separate collage elements made me understand the message even further. The over-the-top and almost humorous nature of the piece conveys my feelings towards the ideal image of beauty. The standard of beauty has gotten to a point that is almost impossible to attain by women and men without significant body alteration. In this case I wanted to portray that these alterations cheapen the body, similar to how the unhealthy nature of most foods today cheapens our diet. The parallels between the two show how the artificial is now dominating so many aspects of human life.

It’s interesting looking at my piece now, and seeing how all these elements that are desirable on their own, become almost grotesque and strange when put together. A perfectly slim waist, cupcakes and sausages may seem tempting on their own, but when juxtaposed in the collage they take on a whole new meaning. I feel as though this emphasizes that sometimes the things we think we want only make sense in our imagination, but when brought to life, don’t make as much sense. This is a huge problem with the ideal body image and what people do to attain the perfect form. It is an unattainable goal that will ultimately leave the individual disappointed.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition - why is this still a thing?!
Ridiculously sexist Carl's Jr commercial
Sexual objectification
Unrealistic proportions
Objectification of Men