Will Cotton

Elegantly kitsch, the work of painter Will Cotton draws inspiration from European 18th century masters, pin-up fashion prints, and the board game Candyland. Surreal and fantastical, the foodscapes Cotton paints are ornate in their confectionary—clouds of cotton candy, towers of gingerbread and rivers of dripping fudge. Working based on elaborate models, often incorporating mountains of real candy, Cotton re-imagines traditional painting in a world of whipped cream, icing and smooth skinned women, draped in spun sugar.

Cotton’s paintings have been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany, Hudson River Museum, New York, Triennale di Milano, Italy, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh and Virginia MOCA.