48" x 48" Oil On Board
Created as part of a series, Sausage Eater Series II features two sketchily drawn, white heads. The heads float in the picture-plane with no grounding to a cast shadow or body. Rendered through simple line work and bold outline, they feature the basic elements of a face— eyes, nose and mouth. Drawn in profile and facing each other, the heads are bald and genderless. A large red cylindrical object protrudes from the figure on the left’s mouth— supposedly the sausage. It is unclear if the figure is in the process of eating the sausage or spitting it out, particularly as the figure on the right’s mouth sits ajar, either ready to receive the sausage or suggesting that he/she has just passed it along to the other figure. The ambiguity is suggestive of an intermediary and transitory state, a sharing and passing along of sustenance. The gold background is adorned with two black triangles, three white squares and a semi-circle sign with the phrase ‘Sausage Eater.’ While the phrase alludes to the title it is written in the singular form, which claims that there is only one ‘Sausage Eater.’ This discrepancy, in light of the two figures, could suggest that the image showing a visual manifestation of the process of eating a sausage— where the figures on the left and right are actually the same individual shown over a period of time and change. The simple line work and outlined forms, in conjunction with a tonally even color palette lend to a great deal of visual movement and leave ample room for symbolism to be unpacked.