‘Freedom of Choice’ speaks to the illusion of choice characterizing much of contemporary life.

In ‘Freedom of Choice’, abstracted, child-sized wooden picnic tables are neatly lined with placemats. The pastel-tinted placemats, printed with fragments of subdivision layouts, hold nearly identical snacks. Squiggle topped cupcakes, a food icon, are cast in golden beeswax, along with drinks in styrofoam cups and folded paper napkins. Pretty and appealing at first sight, they hint at a numbing reality. This classic snack gives off a faint scent of honey and a translucent glow, and, like the real thing, has no nutritional value.

The tables, arranged in a long line, evoke an institutional setting. Kindergarten cafeterias, military, prison and internment camp mess halls all have much in common. But for scale, the tables in ‘Freedom of Choice’ could serve equally well in any of the above settings.

Materials: Beeswax, Glass, Paper, Wood     Dimensions: 30″ x 26″ x 25′     Date: 2014