Miss Bugs | Do No Harm - The Dispensary
Published on:
-
Jealous North is honoured to have Miss Bugs’ newest installation Do No Harm – The Dispensary on show after its super popular launch at the Jealous HQ in Shoreditch.
Mashing up the worlds of contemporary art, big pharma and fast food this exhibition is not to be missed. 18 months in the making, Do No Harm – The Dispensary features hundreds of supersized capsules and tablets. Among the artworks are 800 vibrantly coloured, poured resin capsules, each containing a discarded junk food wrapper.
Every capsule in the installation is unique, with more than 100 variants from corporate giants like McDonalds and Coca-Cola, to childhood favourites Hubba Bubba and Monster Munch. Also featured are the remixed ‘Fast Chalk’ pills, cheekily mashing up the recognisable shapes of Viagra and Oxycontin with familiar fast food slogans like ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ and ‘America Runs on Dunkin’’.
Inspired by a sleepless night watching TV commercials in a US motel room, Do No Harm – The Dispensary unpacks the themes of addiction, advertising and unchecked consumerism that have come to characterise the Do No Harm series. The installation also interrogates the role that art itself plays in this, drawing on modern and contemporary artists like Warhol and Hirst to explore the longstanding relationship between art and consumer brands.
Miss Bugs says: “Imagine a world where Willy Wonka doesn’t want to give you a golden ticket; he just wants to get you hooked. Judging by American TV, that’s the world we’re already living in; slice of pizza in one hand, remote control in the other, eyeballs glued to a non-stop carousel of Coca-Cola, followed by Statins, then back to Burger King, then returning to Valium. Back and forth – junk to meds – on every channel. Consumer capitalism has won!”
Shop the artwork
Miss
Bugs
Augmented Skies: Blue
Miss
Bugs
Augmented Skies: Yellow
Miss
Bugs
Specimen Series
Miss
Bugs
Echo in the Night
Miss
Bugs
Automated Wonder
Miss
Bugs
Augmented Past
Miss
Bugs
Generated Rapunzel
Miss Bugs
Artist
Miss Bugs was founded in 2007, originally coming from a background in photography and graphics. Sometimes referred to as a ‘visual DJ’, Miss Bugs takes iconic imagery from pop culture and art history and remixes it through a variety of mixed media methods. Previously featured in the Saatchi Gallery, the Do No Harm series has already remixed familiar items including ice lollies and hypodermic needles, to raise questions about the influence of technology and the darker side of social media. They have had sell out shows in New York, LA, San Francisco, Paris and London and their artwork is in a number of significant private collections around the world. missbugs.com @ miss_bugs
