Life

Meet the Artist Taking Binge-Eating Selfies

by Marisa Riley

It’s midnight, and aside from the guy who delivered it to you, no one else knows you’re currently eating enough Chinese take out for two people alone in your bed. (Sound familiar? Was I close? Maybe it was Oreos? It’s OK, we don’t have to talk about it.) While most people would never admit to late-night binge eating, artist Lee Price wants to document herself doing it and display it in museums, the Huffington Post reports — which is exactly what she did.

Yep, Price’s paintings, which are usually self portraits, often display the artist or her subject either alone in her bed or in the bath (often nude) munching on some sort of decadent treat — in some cases, it's a chaotic tub-side buffet. Her work shines a light on the act of lone-binging, a compulsory behavior usually associated with women. Each of her paintings displays the subject from an aerial view; a choice Price made to mimic an “out-of-body experience” and show the "subject looking down on herself — observing herself in the act of the compulsive behavior,” she tells The Other Journal.

Although her art could be perceived as “food-shaming,” Price’s intentions behind the portraits were to express her own fascination with eating alone. Beautiful Decay reports that, in a statement about her work, Price explains that in today’s weight-obsessed society, there’s way too much pressure on women to be thin:

We’re not supposed to have appetites — and not just for food, but for a lot of things. We’re the givers and not the consumers, and I think some of my recent paintings are about the women staring at the viewers and saying, ‘I’m not going to censor my appetite.’

Take a look at Price's #sorrynotsorry self portraits (and order takeout!):

For more of Price's work, visit her site.

Images: Lee Price/Facebook