NYAB Event - Christopher Boffoli “Portion Control”

Christopher Boffoli “Portion Control”

Winston Wachter Fine Art

This event has ended.

For nearly a decade, Boffoli has been staging and photographing these surreal scenes and discovering new ways to subvert the viewer’s expectations. The Lilliputian scale of the figures embraces a childlike sensibility that is easily accessible and reminiscent of films and books such as Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Alice in Wonderland, or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. However, the title of the series, along with the captions that accompany each piece, employ biting satire in the tradition of Jonathan Swift to create socio-political awareness of the complexity of our food system.

Against backdrops of twinkies, caramel apples, pez candies and peppercorns, the figures in Boffoli’s works can be seen engaged in activities ranging from the mundane to the macabre. While some find the perfect fishing hole at the center of a bagel, or go sledding down a sugar-coated lemon bar, others get caught in workplace accidents or end up as wartime casualties. One caption reads: “Sometimes the shelf life of the food exceeded that of the people eating it.” Like visual parables, the photographs can be viewed as a warning against the hazards of Big Food and the consequences of mindless consumption.

Boffoli’s meticulous attention to detail, and the vibrant textures and colors of the foods he selects to photograph makes his works as playful as they are political. Portion Control asks viewers to take a closer look at the way we make choices about food, but also opens our imaginations up to the possibilities of the everyday objects that surround us.

Christopher Boffoli’s work has been published online and in print in over 90 countries and can be found in galleries and private collections across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. In 2012, he was nominated for a James Beard Award. Boffoli lives and works in Seattle, Washington.