Laurel Roth..

The smoothness of Laurel Roth's sculptures in her Food series detailed with gold and swarovoski crystal have an almost luxurious and decadent feel. Hand carved from various woods, finished with techniques used to make guns and musical instruments, then inset with crystals and gold leaf...the skulls are rendered gorgeous, seemingly no longer cast off on butcher's floors. However, there is a darker vibe at play here. Laurel has other thoughts behind her beautiful skulls and bones. Exploring industrial agriculture and food politics of the food we consume, Laurel tells us a bit about her latest work:

"Lately [I've] carved from wood and modeled on animals we breed for food. Using a skull rather than a fully fleshed animal makes each piece more representative of a species rather than an individual animal - literally removes it's face while still referencing what it is. For me that helps me to look at my own participation in food production and consumption (I really like eating meat, by the way) in a more anthropological way than a PETA way. The crystal and gold leaf is added as a sort of bio-accumulation around the teeth and crevices to return traces of individual life to the skulls. It also takes the most cast-off and ugly parts of food production and glorifies them, making them impossible to ignore - objects of fetish and desire. That's also the purpose of the super-fine polish to the wood pieces. My soapbox stance is that there's an inherent violence and desire to meat and food production in general that we really want to ignore, which creates a system that allows it to become unhealthy. I like to make it impossible to ignore. Also, shiny is pretty! The most obvious [reference to luxury] is here, where the reference is to pistol cases and fine silverware boxes."