Yum 2021

Curator: Jason Limon's "Yum," created in 2021, presents a rather unsettling image rendered in mixed media. What are your initial thoughts on this piece? Editor: It's definitely got a visceral punch! The juxtaposition of the sweet wrapper form with the skeletal face is immediately striking. It feels like a comment on how we consume, not just food, but everything, perhaps even life itself. The colours are also quite unsettling. Curator: Limon frequently explores themes of mortality and transformation, embedding them within a pop-surrealist framework. I think its placement could generate discourse around the politics of accessibility in contemporary art. Do we make "high art" more palatable by diluting its subversive power with elements of "low art?" Editor: Exactly! And it makes you think about the inherent deception within capitalism. It packages things prettily and markets to your primal desires. Curator: Indeed, the artist uses recognizable and established symbolic frameworks—skulls being the main trope that has an extensive trajectory across various cultural moments in the West and further. But how does the more seemingly innocuous element of a wrapped candy intersect or subvert our interpretation? Editor: I wonder about the power structures it subtly reflects and critiques. The illusion of choice and the inevitable decay, all sugarcoated—literally! It forces us to look critically at those forces and see how they manifest within institutions that benefit off a culture obsessed with youth and consumption. Curator: Considering your approach, how might you place this piece within the lineage of socially conscious artworks addressing those tensions you raised? Editor: It builds upon traditions established by Pop Art with artists such as Warhol that critique advertising culture, but with a twenty-first-century lens attuned to the anxieties surrounding global consumerism. Also I read it as a reminder of precarity. I really feel this in the hands. Curator: The hands do grab our attention immediately. Very well, what overall message might one extrapolate from Limon's juxtaposition of childhood sweetness with this kind of visceral imagery? Editor: To remain vigilant. To see through the tempting wrappers of false promises and question what—or who—we're truly consuming. It feels relevant to the rise in populist politics that also feel as if "we've been had". Curator: "Yum" indeed provokes a much needed visceral discussion, inviting its viewers to question the superficial sweetness of modern consumption habits. Editor: Absolutely, offering a lens into what sustains us and what consumes us. I find this particularly impactful when looking through these contemporary lenses of power and desire.