Peep Diorama

The Washington Post recently had their 3rd annual peeps diorama contest. It consisted of over one thousand artistic renditions of peeps placed in human-like situations. See the gallery slide-show here.

The kitschy Easter marshmallow treats, dressed for the Washington Post contest like humans and placed in culturally resonant context, are surprisingly entertaining. I can't quite put my finger on it. And I hesitate to spin too much interpretation as to overkill the impact of the art. But I can't help but mention in passing of how it speaks to something unique about human perception; to the smallness of our existence pitted against the grandness of our imagination; to our ability to laugh at ourselves; and to the way that inspiration sometimes comes from such strange unpredictable sources - as in this case, from Just Born, a traditional candy manufacturer in Pennsylvania.

On a tangential note, I'm reminded of Virginia Postrell's thesis that there is less of a dichotomy between substance and style than modern society would have you believe. Our modern economy strives to tailor products to willing consumers; and it does this in an infinite number of different ways. The traditional intellectual view is that such is the result of society's vain materialist excesses. Yet it's easy enough to criticize the establishment when you're talking about other people's tastes in general. But in reality, true value is created when you buy a product that is particularly suited to your needs and tastes.

This forms the argument of Postrell's light 2004 book, The Substance of Style, which suggests that people of modern Western society are more developed, sophisticated, and enlightened than our social critics would have us believe. This isn't so much in spite of our materialist nature; rather, in one sense, it's exactly because of it.

Beauty afterall is truth, and truth beauty; and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And though you've probably heard those 2 cliches a million times, they fit together quite well to form a line of inference. In the meantime, I entreat you to view beauty and truth from the brown-speckled eye of the peep.

-KJ

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Media (in order of appearance)

Photo: (1)another peep on the wall, 02/09/2009, by specialkrb; (2)Cover of Virginia Postrell's 2004 book, The Substance of Style. Sphere: Related Content