Have you ever had déjà vu? You know, the feeling you've lived through your present situation before? Well, I have a few times, the most recent of which was whilst visiting the Art Gallery of South Australia.
There I was, wandering the halls filled with amazing works: Paintings, sculpture, ceramics, film and various other media. I was on an on an art-induced high when my brain began to smoke tick-over with thought...Hmm, I had lived this moment before. It was puzzling and frustrating because I couldn't quite recall when or where...It was almost as if the more I tried to recall, the more elusive the truth of it became; A little like trying to capture smoke in one's hand.
I'd stopped in front of the artwork you see pictured and was about to give up my musings when boom, it hit me like a thunderclap! I know where I've lived this before...McDonalds!
Ah yes, that's it... That lamentable moment in my life where I was left with no time to source anything other than the slop that McDonalds serve its willing victims patrons.
For a moment I stood and pondered this artwork...I tilted my head this way, then that, squinted a little, did googly eyes at it and generally weighed and measured trying to determine what looked worse...This painting or the "burger" McDonalds SlopDonalds had served me on that fateful day. Of course, the question was moot; Of course the SlopDonalds burger was worse; Infinitely worse in fact. Brobdingnagianly worse.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that this artwork is slop. No, not for an instant - But the food at McDonalds...Hmm. For those of you wondering, it hangs near the cafe in the lower public area, right between the cafe and the gift shop.
It is painted by a Sydney-born artist by the name of Ben Quilty and I suspect his inspiration came from a similar horror visit disappointing visit to McDonalds like my own where he's been served up "food" that looked like someone had birthed it from their anus, gathered it together, patted it into shape and packaged it in a box. I couldn't bring myself to recreate it personally, however old-mate Ben Quilty has, quite clearly, much greater fortitude for re-living traumatic moments than I have.
He has expertly captured the haphazard-anus-birthed construction of the McDonalds burger with an expert eye and I found myself almost tasting the horrendous devil-anus-spawned "food" even as I looked at it from afar with squinty eyes. He's replicated the way the special sauce oozes from within the hell-spawned "food" like puss indolently oozing from a massive back pimple and the way he has depicted the soggy lettuce and other unidentified ingredients of McDonalds "food"...Simply inspired Ben!
I stood, shuddering slightly, as my mind reeled through my own recent real-life experience with a McDonalds burger and whilst I was repulsed that emotion seemed evenly balanced with a degree of irony as I knew my horror-visit was indeed self inflicted.
I believe now that I was meant to happen across Ben Quilty's work and the resulting déjà vu...Almost like my noggin felt the need to teach my ever-adventurous and wilfully-mischievous stomach a much-needed lesson about making those decisions to consume ass-ejected-pig-slop MacDonalds "food". I rarely go there, McDonalds I mean, however I feel this life-lesson is one that may very-well preclude me from ever going again. Thanks Ben Quilty, I appreciate it.
If you're keen to read the original SlopDonalds post you can here.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default