Excessize
'Excessize', by Roope Rainisto, served as a precursor to the renowned series 'Life in West America.' It offers a critical depiction of American consumerism and the fast food culture.
The series consists of 12 unique NFTs minted on the artist's smart contract, debuted as an auction on Friday 29th of March at 7 pm CET.
The series contrasts the once-idealized golden age of American fast-food with its later-discovered negative effects. It presents a more critical view compared to ‘Life In West America’, which adopts a fundamentally more optimistic tone. It examines the mass production and uniformity of food, symbolized by the repetition and uniformity in the images. The artist portrays symbols of American culture using exaggeration, spanning from drive-in dinings and french fries to shakes and sodas, all the way to classic cars. These visual elements highlight how these factors contribute to global issues of our culture, like overproduction and overconsumption of food and also how this culture has contributed to a public health issues including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
The fast food industry has become a global phenomenon through globalization, often undermining traditional diets and local economies. Rainisto employs a unique custom fine-tuned diffusion models from 2022 to reflect and critique the consequences of this global cultural homogenization, focusing on its effects on environmental sustainability and the erosion of local traditions. This mirrors the ongoing expansion of artificial intelligence, which moves towards automation, affecting authenticity and individuality. Just as the fast-food industry's mass production encourages uniformity, the use of AI in the corporate sector prioritizes efficiency and scalability, potentially leading to similar homogenization in content and product creation.
Roope Rainisto, a Finnish artist known for combining AI-generated processes with traditional art techniques, builds on his renowned 'Life in West America' series with a reflection on another, a more critical aspect of US culture. His latest collection, ‘Excessize’, offers a satirical depiction of American consumerism, particularly its inclination towards excess and the fast food phenomenon. Created in October/November 2022, these pieces served as a precursor to his work on ‘Life In West America’, acting as both a study and exploration. Using the visual style of vintage Americana photography and the capabilities of AI, each piece captures the post-war United States atmosphere—a time marked by a significant rise in food production following years of rationing.
Fast food restaurants, which saw growth starting in the 1950s, are depicted as more than just dining locations; they are cultural institutions. They cater to individuals across all socioeconomic levels, from presidents to the working class, embodying and promoting values of quick service, efficiency, and uniformity. These concepts, once celebrated as marks of advancement, captured the interest of Pop Art artists like Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Wayne Thiebaud, who sought to depict contemporary life and frequently included everyday food items in their art.
‘Excessize’ captures both the celebration of post-war economic growth and the examination of its negative societal impacts. It echoes Pop Art's engagement with everyday life while bringing the conversation to the societal role and impact of excess and mass production in the digital age. This series urges a reconsideration of how mass production and AI shape our society and cultural heritage.
