Edible chocolate figurine by Paul McCarthy for Peter Paul Chocolates, a temporary chocolate factory and retail store opened by McCarthy at Maccarone Gallery, in conjunction with Hauser & Wirth, for the 2007 holiday season. The figurine, originally referred to as "Santa With Tree And Bell," is 10" high and is made with 14 oz. of Guittard semi-sweet dark chocolate and comes in decorative wrapping with a display podium.
New York Times art critic Holland Cotter writes of the project: "It's all so great: art as the cottage-industry enterprise everybody wants it to be, turning out a line of cute cash-and-carry luxury objects, consumerist totems for the holiday shopping countdown. Of course none of this would bear the McCarthy stamp unless there were some spoiler element. In this case the tree the Santa carries is modeled on a commercial sex toy. You may not see this at first, but once you do, you keep seeing it. But that's great art for you: It may give you a sugar high, but it has dirty little secrets."
12 x 7 x 6 inches (30.5 x 18 x 15 cm)
packaged in fold-out cardboard box
Peter Paul Chocolates, Inc., 2008
New York Times art critic Holland Cotter writes of the project: "It's all so great: art as the cottage-industry enterprise everybody wants it to be, turning out a line of cute cash-and-carry luxury objects, consumerist totems for the holiday shopping countdown. Of course none of this would bear the McCarthy stamp unless there were some spoiler element. In this case the tree the Santa carries is modeled on a commercial sex toy. You may not see this at first, but once you do, you keep seeing it. But that's great art for you: It may give you a sugar high, but it has dirty little secrets."
12 x 7 x 6 inches (30.5 x 18 x 15 cm)
packaged in fold-out cardboard box
Peter Paul Chocolates, Inc., 2008
