WILL COTTON

About this artist

Biography

Using a refined painterly technique inspired by the Hudson River School and traditional figure painting, Will Cotton paints surrealistic foodscapes and demure female nudes wearing lollipop crowns, lounging in cotton candy, or adorned with cupcake foils. Cotton paints from life, constructing elaborate models using real baked goods and other confectionery, from which he derives the fantastical environments depicted in his large-scale canvases. Cotton’s work has been interpreted as a criticism of the greed and the overindulgence of American society, as well as a contemporary re-imagination of traditional genres such as landscape and portraiture. Cotton has also directed his creative energies toward the realm of popular culture, acting as art director for Katy Perry’s California Gurls (2010) music video and depicting the singer in a series of paintings.