A streak of white, a gentle shine contrasts with
the pink icing, dripped perfectly over the dough of the donut.
From afar, the dounts, one balanced upright,
that same donut balancing a second donut in its center, appear a perfect
picture. Two perfectly fried treats gleaming in the light, tempting you like a
secret. “Eat me,” they appear to scream, like a treat from Alice in Wonderland,
more pristine than any Dunkin Donuts ad the company could throw at me. The
frosting looks so good I feel as if I can taste it by looking. The dough looks fluffy
but crisp, the ideal donut, a perfect creation; a feast for the eyes in the sweetest
way.
Close up, however, the illusion is broken. White
streaks of paint, strewn on a canvas tell me where the sun shines. The pink
icing, a myriad of streaks and strokes of a paintbrush, shows me the strategy
of planning, where the artist placed her shadows, what the pinkest pink she believed
would pass for a real treat could be, exactly what shade ought to be where in
the perfect icing creation. The dough, once flaky and fluffy and crisp is now
oranges, shades of orange in dots and lines, creating the perfect picture. The lines
across the donuts where a fryer couldn’t reach are strategically drawn in in
shades of white and cream. The shadows cascade in planned out gradients, mixed
by the hand of an artist, not a baker. The oranges fade from beige to brown,
flowing together in splotches of shadow and light to find the perfect mix for
the sugary confection of the two donuts, on canvas, painted gently, painted
sweetly.
Tang Museum, March 23rd. Big Pink by Emily Eveleth, 2016.
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