The Candy Store at San Diego Mesa College and Mission Cultural Center for Latino Art, San Francisco, CA.
The Candy Store acknowledges the trend toward self-diagnosis and treatment due to rising healthcare costs by providing medicinal candies and other objects with prescription pharmaceuticals incorporated into them as art media. Many objects, for example, are ceramic works with medicines baked into the glazes. These inconsumable medicinal talismans are a welcome addition to the panoply of healthcare choices and are guaranteed to meet or exceed FDA standards for safety or effectiveness.
In alarming numbers, those with limited access to medical care have turned to self-diagnosis and medication, often crossing the borders in search of affordable drugs. While large segments of the population lack health insurance, the privileged are often over-medicated, using “mind focusing” drugs to enhance test scores and relying on pharmaceuticals as treatment for conditions once held as normal variations in personality and temperament. The Candy Store is a natural extension of these trends, providing greater access to medication, through the placebo effect.
Canopic Jars
Ceramic, glaze and medication
Each jar is labeled with the medicine that is ground into the glaze. The jar is fashioned using symbols that represent the effects of the medication. Medication for pain and inflammation may be indicated by the addition of legs or hands protruding from the jars. Other jars display the mind altering effects of powerful painkillers through the addition of surreal elements. The jars are also inspired by ancient Egyptian canopic jars, used to store the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs prior to the mummification process. The artists encourage people to create their own rituals using the jars.
Tobacco Teddy Bears
Tobacco
The tobacco teddy bears are wry commentaries on cigarette marketing and the search for younger consumers as loyal clientele die off. They are sold in cigar boxes, which use beautiful graphics to add desirability to tobacco products.
Medicinal Candy
Ceramic, glaze and medication
The candies are inconsumable. Each piece of ceramic candy contains trace elements of a commercial grade medication, which has been carefully extracted and incorporated into the glaze. The color of the glaze indicates the medications which include Amoxicillin, Vioxx, Ultram and Vicodin. It is notable that Vioxx, one of the “active ingredients” included in this box, has been removed from the market due to a reassessment of the potential dangers posed by this drug (which sometimes resulted in death.) The notoriety of this recall has brought into question the marriage between the regulatory arm of the US government and the pharmaceutical industry.
Medicine Bags
Animal hide, synthetic cord, rhinestones
A contemporary twist on Native American shamanic containers, made to hold individual Medicines/Candy. May be used to create one’s own rituals to ward off illness and can be worn around the neck as a talisman.
Medical Scrubs
Cotton (size XL)
These scrubs have The Candy Store Logo and can be worn as a statement of support for the Candy Store’s message.
Medical Lab Coats
Cotton (size XL)
Each coat has a unique image on the back and reflects the pharmaceutical industry. The front includes an embroidered logo for the Candy Store, the reverse is an image created in rhinestones.
The Candy Store
Video
The video portion of The Candy Store is a shameless marketing pitch. It will run on The Kickstarter.com website until the end of November in an attempt to help fund the creation of this exhibition and to sell products/artworks. The exhibition video incorporates vintage cartoons and commercials celebrating the joy of cigarette smoking and contemporary FDA recall messages.
Candy apples
Ceramic, glaze, medication, paper
The apples are a symbol of temptation. Some apples have been bitten, indicating that a customer has succumbed to enticement.
We wish to thank the following patrons for funding our Kickstarter.com campaign. As a result of their generosity, The Candy Store exhibition travelled to Tijuana, Mexico, for a solo exhibition at La Casa del Tunel (The House of the Tunnel.)
Isabelle Wasserman
Janice Klein
Andrea Villa
Manny Macias
Robert A. Yassin
Tessie Bersamin
Mark Kline
Susan Royce
Louise Kline
Joan Sobel
Annette Laing
Ronald Logan
John Highkin
Virginia Lukei
Jan Bell
William Scott
Hilary Sinberg
Monika Hseu
Jonathan Rossall
Debra Wilbur
Vivien Ressler
Larry and Debra Poteet