Art of the Everyday

Painting packages: Beauty in Walmart's food aisles
(CBS News Video)

Brendan O'Connell's "Giant Utz"

"If you do a painting of eight feet of Cheetos, some people are going to interpret that politically -- positively and negatively." - Brendan O'Connell, pop artist, to CBS reporters
Text from Susan Orlean's recent artist profile, "Walart:  A career epiphany in a supermarket" (The New Yorker's February 11 & 18, 2013 Anniversary Issue, pages 46-50):

• "A painting of an endless row of Oreos can be interpreted as an ironic statement about gluttony and commercialism or as a study of a pattern seen by millions of people every day that has its own ubiquitous beauty" (p. 48).
• O'Connell elegantly told The Boston Globe of his process: "'Trying to find beauty in the least-likely environment is kind of a spiritual practice'" (p. 49).
• "Maybe it's because he has no formal art training, or maybe it is just his particular turn of mind, but O'Connell lives by the credo that art is everywhere and, by extension, everyone is an artist, and he is dedicated to making art an everyday experience for the general public" (p. 50).

UPDATE:  O"Connell is again featured in a national magazine, a two-page spread in TIME by Lily Rothman.  Sample text: "If O'Connell's work is any indication, one consequence of  decades of immersion in a branded world is that labels are inseparable from life.  Memories are populated by people and places and packaging" (p. 52, January 27, 2014 issue).  Earlier, she notes O'Connell's nonjudgmental representation, that he strives to present products as "objects of beauty without commentary", with a respectful deference to the love felt by nostalgic consumers.  After all, "To consume is human," she observes.  O'Connell's response:  ''There's that aspect of the zest of being alive.  In order to be vibrant, you have to take things in.'