Friday
Mar122010
Et Tu, O-Town?
March 12, 2010 I feel I should prepare you in some way for today's Wreck.
Hm. Let's see...
Oh! I know. How about this:
Think of a place. A happy place.
A place where chocolate-dipped demon mummies can never, ever reach you - much less wrap you in their fudgy arms and squeeze the life-breath out of you.
Are you imagining that happy place? Are you there?
Ok, good.
You may now proceed.
AAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!! THINK OF THE HAPPY PLACE!
THINK OF THE HAPPY PLACE!!!
Ahem.
Yes, it IS cake.
Forty six pounds of cake, to be precise, and fifty five pounds of chocolate ganache. It's a testament to the baker's skill that I could never get within arm's reach of this thing, for fear of it suddenly coming to life like in Night at the Museum.
Still, you've got to appreciate the humor of where they chose to start cutting:
"Hey, girl, you have one sweet piece of...[noticing onlookers]...uh...shoulder blade."Thanks to Wreckporter Jessica Y., who featured it here in her article for Orlando Weekly, and also to Paul J., the baker/sculptor, who's been an awfully good sport about all this.
In fact, you can check out progress shots of Paul sculpting the demon mummy (warning: a live model was used, & she's nekkid!) at his FB album here.
Reader Comments (188)
I see alot of readers thought the cake was, creepy, or gross or other than cool. I think it's totally great! The fact that the sculpter (cake maker) was able to make a sculpture out of cake that so many people think is terrifying is cool on so many levels.
The fact that people started eating from the *butt* first, is just funny as heck.
That is an amazing sculpture. It did belong in an art show.
I can't get Pompeii out of my mind. I just can't.
Do you know when my son studied the awful loss of life at Pompeii in pre-school (why??) he came home and said ' but mummy it was worse than all the people that got cooked.... there were.... (wide eyed for maximum effect)... DOGS too! Arrggh! t.x
Kilt-man in the background just added to the creep factor for me.
Here's the specific Pompeii/Vesuvius victim that I am reminded of:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Volcanoes/Vesuvius_&_Pompeii/Pompeii_18.JPG
Though Kiki Smith is another good call.
Jeez! When did Damien Hirst start making cakes?
I really admire it as a piece of art, but I've also never tucked into a nice painting or sculpture before...
Yet more proof that just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done.
I reckon Pompeii's tourist board would be veeeeeery interested in one of these.
Wow..Umm..???
Amy B-H
wv: presses "the image of this cake presses its way to the very depth of subconscious.."
Is it very odd that one of the first things I noticed on the 'cutting picture' was not the position of the cuts but the man in a skirt in the background?
Anyone besides me think the cake looked like it had exposed ribs when it was cut? O_O
I'm going to my happy place now. I have a sickish sense of humor but I think this is time to plan my happy cake.
*blink blink* I Hope that's not what I think it is...
AAAAAAAA!!! MY EYES!! MY EYES!! *sniff* Hold me, Mommy.
That cake is insane! And a little creepy...
http://iliketweet.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">iliketweet.blogspot
x
it made me think of someone who'd been badly burned; the icing looked sort of like charred skin.
Impressive from a technical standpoint but still turns my stomach
Follow the link to his facebook page. They ate it after the crowd left.
This totally reminds me of the undead from legend of zelda ocarina of time. They gave me some serious chills back then. *shivers*
But other than that, it's an amazing cake!
It's AMAZING. It looks so life like. And yet simultaneously looks like a burn victim... GAHHHH. I am hoffied and incredibly impressed all at once.
The Inca used to pose their mummies in this position. Well, not on tip-toes, but with the knees to the chest and the head resting on them. This is an extraordinarily well made Inca mummy cake.
I'm glad someone else got the connection, intended or not, to the work of Kiki Smith. I also see that one of the reasons there are so many comments that show up is that a lot of people post the same thing because they didn't read any of the other comments before posting.
More Smith: http://www.artinfo.com/news/photos/169/3570/
I once had a nightmare when I was a child that I was put in an oven, and shen someone took me out, I looked alot like this cake. Seriously.
Very impressive...it must take a lot of time and patience to create a cake like that. Especially working with the armature underneath with an edible medium. Reminds me of some of Giacometti's sculpture too. Awesome job
LOVE it! Of course, now I MUST watch the Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser and watch the evil Imhotep try to bring back his lost love....and I will eat chocolate cake while doing so!
One word, Pompeii.
can we just notice the fact that behind the chocolate mummy...is a man in a skirt. (ok ya, kilt, still). k, thanks. :)
Didn't it say that mean-spirited remarks wouldn't get published? Geez. Does anyone appreciate art? This is an amazing structure. I don't know many people who could replicate, with such anatomical accuracy, this cake! Awesome job, cake artist!
I laughed SO. HARD.
It was that silent, not-breathing-for-so-long-you-actually-fear-you-may-pass-out-which-somehow-makes-it-all-funnier-still type of laughter....
Seriously. Holy crap.
Oh noes, play the Sun's Song, quick!
We should all be so fortunate to create something that draws this much attention. Personally, I love the cake. I think there is great humor in the direction that this has taken. Well done creator!
Hmm, if it weren't a cake, it looks like quite an interesting sculpture. But the fact that it IS a cake, supposed to be eaten, makes it creepycreepycreepy.
I think it's wonderful. It reminds me of a Kiki Smith sculpture!
@ Halloween-- I was OK until you mentioned Inca mummies. Weren't those human sacrifices?! Ugh!
BTW, my first thought on seeing this cake was a Cirque de Soleil act where these two incredibly strong, fit people (a man and woman, married) made these living sculptures by balancing on each other. Painted with metallic grey paint. Really, that's what I thought. Then Degas. Then Donner. Then Inca mummies.
wv: lator
It seems I came to this post too lator.
Actually, I think this piece is amazing. Very sculpture gallery opening type of thing. Or maybe for a "Bodies" opening or something along those lines. Scary kinda, yes. But, amazing still.
He is such a talented artist just amazing
It looks like Clara after she's burned alive. Ten geek points if you know what I'm talking about.
MOTHER OF GOD!
Well, this went straight past creepy and decided to take a flying, screaming leap right smack into the uncanny valley. o.O
I looks like one of those body casts left after the eruption in Pompei.