Another day in paradise has become a popular motive since I first painted it at the iBUG Festival onto an old factory building. Since then I had the chance to paint it more often including a commission for Germany’s first Urban Art Museum, the MUCA (Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art). Here is a link to a video when I painted it in Munich.
You can get a limited edition screen print of ‘Another day in Paradise’, here.
Description of the motive:
The eye follows up a massive hill of fruit and vegetables. There stands a woman holding a cell phone and looking into the distance, ignorant of food falling out of a trash can strapped to her back. In the sky some ‘trash fliers’ are flying above her head, each with a trash can strapped on and loosing more food. One can also read what seems to be a ‘whatsapp’ message: “Another day in Paradise”.
The motive addresses the ignorance of people living in the industrialised world or so called “first” world. Observing from the outside it seems like paradise. People are well fed, there is education for everyone, good health systems, social nets, absence of wars, beautiful landscapes…
Even though we produce enough food to feed the entire world, there are still close to 1 billion people starving worldwide. Huge quantities of edible food are thrown away. The reasons might be diverse, ranging from the odd fruit that does not look that nice anymore to farmers tossing tons of overproduced vegetables on the streets to protest against foreign imports. In Germany, for example, which is often regarded as the forerunner of recycling and waste handling, 82 kg of edible food are disposed per person per year. Globally, it is estimated that 1.3 billion tons of food get wasted each year. Overproduction and food waste is not only a problem because of filling up landfills but the energy wasted to produce, transport and finally dispose of these foods.
~ iBUG, Limbach-Oberfrohna / MUCA, Munich / Biberach – Germany ~
