Leah just baked 10,000 cupcakes

Leah Foster graduated from UTD as an Arts & Performance major. At UTD she experimented with different mediums and art objects, trying to find what worked for her. Cupcakes worked.

Foster had two cupcake based shows in Dallas. The first was at UTD’s Visual Arts Building, and the other at Gorilla Arts in downtown Dallas.

Leah moved to New York about three months ago and she already has a show lined up! It opens Oct. 27 at conArtistNYC. For this show she managed to cook up 10,000 cupcakes. If only I could be in New York to experience the art space in all it’s sweet-smelly glory.

The first question on every one’s mind: why cupcakes? Leah said it all started with her casually baking cupcakes to give to people.”The cupcake is a guilty pleasure, its something I enjoy baking, I enjoy looking at it, I enjoy holding it but I really don’t like eating it because I know its not good for me.”

“The cupcake is a guilty pleasure, its something I enjoy baking, I enjoy looking at it, I enjoy holding it but I really don’t like eating it because I know its not good for me.”

She started to wonder why she never really ate them but enjoyed baking, decorating and giving cupcakes to people.

Leah says the cupcakes have become a lens for her to explore body image.

“I’ve been called cupcake, I’ve been called sugar, I’ve been called sweetie I’ve been called all these names that reference sweets, yet if I was just to sit and eat cupcakes all day or eat sugar all day no man is going to want me as his cupcake because I won’t look like the girl he wants me to.”

Leah thought about the tensions that exist in the enticing, colorful individual object that is the cupcake.

“I call it the duality of the cupcake, in that I’m both extremely attracted to it and really repulsed by it. In my work I’m trying to have that reaction where you’re disgusted because there are so many cupcakes, but at the same time it’s really beautiful and really interesting to look at.”

Leah said she was influenced by Félix González-Torres, particularly his ‘Candy Spill’ piece. Félix placed a lot of candy on a museum floor and the audience was allowed to take a piece. The show was over when all the candy was taken.

Leah liked the participatory aspect of Torres’s work. “I wanted my work to do that and to be participatory, so that’s why I have (group) cupcake decorating and I have all these cupcake parties. I’m trying to create these experiences for people outside of what they think art is.”

Leah also referenced the work of Rirkrit Tiravanija, who set up a kitchen inside an art gallery and cooked Thai food for people. Tiravanija has said himself, “it is not what you see that is important but what takes place between people.” He tried to create situations, or events. He sets out to create spaces of interaction according to Arts & Culture.

Janine Antoni is another artist whose work heavily guided Leah’s cupcake creations. Leah referenced Antoni’s piece “Gnaw” where she chewed up a 600 Ib block of lard to make lipsticks, and then chewed up a 600 Ib block of chocolate to make heart shapes. Antoni’s work often references process, body image and cultural perceptions of femininity, according to The Museum of Modern Art.

The Mercury will post pictures on the blog from Leah’s New York show once it’s over, in three weeks.