Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Michael Massaia’s Nostalgic Photographs of Melted Icream

As a kid, dropping your ice cream on the sidewalk was a moment of bitter disappointment. Michael Massaia makes us remember this childlike feeling of sadness with his photographs of melted ice cream — a feeling that you know is petty yet still breaks your heart. The artist simply places popsicles on black plexiglass and watches them melt over time. The original shape of a Spiderman or Spongebob pop turns into a swirling, oil slick-like pattern of pastel colors. The melted sweets evoke a nostalgic longing for carefree summers on the playground. Ice cream pops, something we hadn't previously given much thought to, turn out to be a pretty powerful sensory symbol.

As a kid, dropping your ice cream on the sidewalk was a moment of bitter disappointment. Michael Massaia makes us remember this childlike feeling of sadness with his photographs of melted ice cream — a feeling that you know is petty yet still breaks your heart. The artist simply places popsicles on black plexiglass and watches them melt over time. The original shape of a Spiderman or Spongebob pop turns into a swirling, oil slick-like pattern of pastel colors. The melted sweets evoke a nostalgic longing for carefree summers on the playground. Ice cream pops, something we hadn’t previously given much thought to, turn out to be a pretty powerful sensory symbol.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
“Like Water” is a series from photographer JuneYoung Lim, who brings kinetic, liquid forms into cityscapes. The artist says that she considers there to be two elements to a city: the towering structures and the “ever-fluid” citizens that occupy it. The goal of this project is to "combine to create an air of vitality to the otherwise acid city."
Swedish artist Susanna Hesselberg's latest work plummets deep into the ground Alice-in-Wonderland-style. “When My Father Died It Was Like a Whole Library Had Burned Down” (named after Laurie Anderson’s song "World Without End") is a mind bending reproduction of a library inherited by the artist from her father, created for Denmark's Sculpture by the Sea exhibition series. The biennial festival, which closed on July 5th, boasted 56 site specific installations along the Danish coast. Hesselberg's mysterious contribution is vertical tunnel framed by a piece of glass that allows viewers to peer into a dark tower books only visible by their spines. Hesselberg wanted to recreate the depth of loss or losing control, as one might experience when a loved one dies.
The use of multiple-exposure techniques to create eerie, ghostlike effects in photography and film is a trope that most of us are familiar with. The work of photographer David Samuel Stern, however, stands out in that he eschews both the usual analog and digital means of achieving such effects. Instead, in his "Woven Portrait" series, Stern physically weaves together two prints of the same subject. The resulting portraits are intriguing and ghostly multi-perspective studies of Stern’s subjects, all of whom are representatives of the creative fields – artists, musicians, choreographers and poets, to name a few.
Artist Mike Campau combines photography and digital techniques for his “Antisocial” series, a project that takes a pointed look at digital platforms we use to communicate. For much of the work, there’s a cynical beauty in the details, with letter boards reflecting our frivolous behavior and dependency on social media. In a statement, he offers some insight into the series:

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List