Sunday, April 18, 2010


Currently, at the Heist Gallery in NYC, an exhibition called Cake Mixx is showing. The artist, Dustin Wayne Harris photographs cakes (built by the women he's dating) which he thinks are metaphors for his relationship with the people who made them. Like a crystal ball, he uses them to see into the future of the relationship.
I've been thinking about how inanimate objects relate to people and can have some of the same "personality" traits as a human being. People are complex, but no matter how complex the object, whether it be constructed out of many objects or a single item, cannot compare to all the baggage of a person. However, I do believe that because what we know of people is mostly on the surface, there isn't as much to relate. Relationships are even more complex, involving two people, so why didn't Harris participate in the making of the cakes photographed? He's relying entirely on the other person to determine how the relationship will end up, as if the single failed cake maker is faulted for the demise of the team. Try following a recipe with another person, or traveling with your new girl/boyfriend and having to navigate a new place, than you might have a better idea of how the relationship will turn out.