Save Cows, Eat Shrimp 2019

Curator: Jammie Holmes created this provocative mixed-media artwork titled "Save Cows, Eat Shrimp" in 2019. It is rich with textual and figurative elements layered over an abstract expressionist background. What is your initial take? Editor: Man, it hits you like a punch in the gut, doesn't it? Chaotic, a little angry... like looking into the artist's very busy brain. It makes you question a lot, almost instantly. Curator: Precisely. Note the dichotomy established through the verbal declarations, "Save Cow, Eat Shrimp" and consider how the bold pronouncements contrast with the gritty, almost primal execution. Semiotically, the work sets up opposing systems ripe for exploration. Editor: It feels deliberately messy, the paint strokes, those frantic scribbles… Yet, a form, something that sort of looks like an odd pink ghostly shrimp swims to the surface in the sea of visual noise. It’s pretty unforgettable in a… disturbing way? It gets under your skin. Curator: The composition cleverly juxtaposes familiar urban motifs—a gas station sign, graffiti tags—with the titular ecological message. Holmes establishes a critical dialogue on consumerism, morality, and maybe even taste through discordant symbolic elements. Editor: Definitely challenges the idea of, well, what we consume, what we value, doesn’t it? That shrimp could almost be any of us. Curator: True. And notice how Holmes exploits the physical properties of his materials: the thick impasto contrasting with the scratched-in text… he is not afraid to let the medium convey as much meaning as the message. Editor: Makes you think about how what you eat tells the world who you are. Maybe it’s kinda humorous, if grimly so. Curator: Indeed, Holmes invites multiple readings. Its deliberate lack of resolution makes a strong case for ongoing dialogue about individual accountability. Editor: It definitely holds your gaze… Thank you. I'm leaving this with much food for thought! Curator: A potent reminder, perhaps, of the power and discomfort of a mirror confronting contemporary ethics through bold gestures of mixed media.