Description
By Will Cotton, USA.
Will Cotton is an influential artist heavily inspired by cultural iconography, the Candy Land board game, cotton candy, pinup art, the land of milk and honey in European literature and art, and gingerbread houses.
According to Will, the commercial consumer environment that we live in engulfs people. Each day a person is faced with hundreds of advertisements, some not consciously noticeable, all intended to evoke desire.
Fascinated by this phenomenon, he kept playing around with this concept in his paintings until he decided to take it further by turning the actual landscape into the object of desire. He began to paint landscapes made of pastries, melting ice cream, candy, and other tempting sweets.
Instead of merely painting an image from his mind, Will constructs miniatures out of authentic baked goods and candies. After he is satisfied with the setup, he then paints the picture.
Singer Katy Perry approached Cotton in 2010 to request that he work as the artistic director for her ‘California Gurls’ music video. Cotton accepted this offer and designed the props for the set. One of his paintings featuring Katy Perry was also used as the cover art for her Teenage Dream album.