Back in 2008, Stephen Harper was in the news a lot. First, he gave his lovely speech with the sentiment that ordinary Canadians don’t relate to the arts, because of all of the “rich arts galas” they see on tv. Here’s the best clip I could find of it:
Then, a little further on in the year, you may remember that the opposition formed a coalition that came close to toppling his government. During this time, the front page of every newspaper everyday featured an image of an enraged, frankly terrifying, Stephen Harper screaming in Parliament. i.e.:
Being surrounded by all of this Harper visual culture eventually led me to making the inaugural batch of ‘Monster Cookies’ (a technique further developed and utilized for B.C. premier Gordon Campbell’s 2009 Arts Cuts).
The skin turned out drying a much deeper yellow than the pale pinky skin colour I mixed for it, as it was my first go with royal icing (which can be a real bitch, but I’m really getting the hang of it these days). Besides that, they were REALLY satisfying to make, physically and psychologically. Here are some fun process shots:
In closing to this post, here’s a clip of this same guy singing a Beatles song at one of ‘those’ galas:
…and here’s a song I think someone ought to sing to Mr. Harper: