I wouldn’t imagine that anything so minty fresh could make me feel so queasy. In photographer Erik Boker’s “Product Dissections” he takes something as mundane as toothpaste and makes it organic and Frankenstein-ishly disturbing.
Crest Whitening with Scope – Citrus Splash
Colgate Juniour – Bubble Fruit
Dissecting the tubes with the same method as many of us experienced in Science class growing up, there’s a shiny sterility here that makes the crustacean-looking tubes seem almost more like victims of scientific experiments. There’s also something about the way their little caps are left on that look like heads to me… Perhaps they’re being dissected to find the secret of their tartar-fighting abilities.
Aquafresh Extreme Clean – Empowermint
Colgate Maxfresh – Kiss Me Mint
He’s also diligently labelled each photo with it’s appropriate toothpaste name, which for some reason makes it all the more weird. As if somehow knowing this glossy, dissected mint-insect used to be you average run of the mill tube of Aquafresh makes the transformation all the more unnerving.
Boker gets right into it in a statement on his site:
“This project is an on-going exploration of the roles of art, nature, the consumer, the institution, product, fabrication, reality, taxonomy, and our relationships with seemingly insignificant objects and materials that affect us daily. … I am continually inspired by the function and treatment of both nature and the unnatural in our environment, and I continue to explore our understanding of their roles, and the inherent beauty, humour, and horror that lies within them.”
Clockwise from upper left:
Colgate Total – Mint Stripe, Crest Whitening Expressions – Extreme Herbal Mint, Crest Baking Soda and Whitening, and Oral-B Magic – Bubble Gum Magic Disney Princesses.
Via Photo Shelter
shape+colour 