Few people would find artistic inspiration inside a McDonald’s or a KFC.
But that’s exactly where New York artist Roxy Paine went for his latest installation featured in a Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago. The work, called Carcass, is a life-sized replica of a fast food joint, carved entirely out of birch wood.
There are intricately detailed fryers, drink dispensers and coffee brewers. Empty menu signs hang above the counter, where three replicas of touch-screen computers are arranged next to fake straw dispensers.
A single box, made to look like the carton for a hamburger, appears ready to be served on a shelf next to a fake frozen yogurt machine.
At first glance, the installation looks like an exact copy of a McDonald’s restaurant. But Paine drew from a number of restaurants for inspiration, according to Emanuel Aguilar, a director at Kavi Gupta Gallery.
“If you look closely at the objects in the room, you see that some of the things pertain to KFC, while others pertain to a restaurant that would make burgers,” Aguilar said. “It’s a combination of fast food restaurants that we have in our collective memory.”
Here's an up-close look at the fryer:
The sculpture is purposefully barren of the busy colors and sounds of a functional fast food restaurant.
Aguilar said Paine taught himself woodworking in order to create the piece, which took him six months to complete.
Paine left out few details. Here's a computer monitor that might log orders in an actual restaurant.
Tiny wooden straws sit idly in the fake straw dispenser:
The installation was set behind a glass window to give the viewer the same experience as they might have with a diorama at a museum, Aguilar said.
