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Consumptuous The photo-documents in Consumptuous combine the structure and composition of Dutch still life painting with contemporary symbols of luxury and luxurious lifestyles. The luxury products within my still life photos range from designer handbags and Cuban cigars, to themes of casino's and gambling. The seemingly recognizable and oft-overlooked formula of a still life painting is challenged by the fact that the above mentioned objects in my work are sculpted out of edible cake and icing. Like the superfluous products and lifestyles I portray, cakes and sweets are highly desirable, often getting confused for necessity instead of an unnecessary luxury. Dutch still life painting of the 17th century contains a myriad of hidden meanings and morals about the temporality of life and the consequences of sinful living. The moral dilemma's that plagued many painters of the 17th c. Netherlands can be comparatively applied to today's social concerns. The industrialized countries live amidst great wealth and opportunity adjacent to immense poverty and despair. The discrepancy between want and need has become blurred as our appetites increase. I question and ponder these dilemmas but accept that I am not outside of the issue. Just as the most moralizing of Dutch paintings are in and of themselves indulgences, commodities to be purchased for visual ingestion and pleasure, so too is my work a willing player in the art market. My work addresses this inherent contradiction, hating what it loves and loving what it hates in a world filled with contradictions. -Shelley Miller |
 Exhibition date: April 21 to May 21, 2005 |
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