This portfolio appears in VICE Magazine's 2019 Photo Issue. With this issue we wanted to celebrate the absurd, the lighthearted, and the humorous. It’s important to take a break from the real world. As much as we need to be informed, engaged, and aware, we also need to laugh. We wanted to champion the people making art with a sense of humor. In today’s climate, there’s something nicely subversive about that. You can read more about our theme in the letter from our editor.
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Check out an interactive version of the issue here, and why not subscribe to the magazine while you're at it?***Lazy Mom is a collaboration between New York-based artists Josie Keefe and Phyllis Ma. The moniker and the body of work they create is based on an imaginary mother who spends her time obsessive-compulsively arranging groceries instead of preparing meals for her family. Their work explores the simplicity and complexity of modern food, which can be anything from hot dog sculptures—like the one included in this year’s photo issue in which hot dogs impale a slice of pizza—to wiggling deli meat.Their insanely colorful images are both enticing and disgusting at the same time. As Keefe and Ma explained to us, “One of the first rules we are taught in life is not to play with your food. Repressing this natural urge since childhood has left Lazy Mom frustrated and unsatisfied. She wants to touch, feel, squirt, and make all kinds of mess and now there’s no one to stop her. Dinner is ready, so take off your shoes and get ready for a wild ride.”
