Visions of cakes, candies, cookies, cupcakes, meringues and every other imaginable sumptuous sweet from a candyland of mid-century American consumption radiate from Sharon Core’s seductive scenes. In Bakery Counter, 1962, 2004, Core transmutates Wayne Thiebaud’s oil canvas, first into painstakingly precise handmade baked goods and then into an undeniably tempting, perfectly lit photograph that mirrors Thiebaud’s painting in composition, style, scale and name. An exceptionally skilled baker, Core once worked as an assistant food stylist for publications like Martha Stewart Living and the HoneyBaked Ham catalogue, training in the production of food meant to be consumed by only the eyes. While disguising the intricacy of her photographic process, Core’s photographs beautifully address the complex relationship between painting and photography throughout art in the 20th and 21st centuries.
2004 Chromogenic print, printed later, face-mounted to Plexiglas. 55 x 72 in. (139.7 x 182.9 cm) Signed, dated and numbered 6/7 in ink on the reverse of the flush-mount.