Pauline Marcelle is a contemporary artist, in the literal sense of the word. Her art is focused on and inspired by the things she sees and experiences every day. Marcelle is best known for her colorful large scale paintings, as well as her dramatic video works. She focuses on human needs and desires, lusts and passions, which are lived out individually and in the group.
Her series of videos, The Eatings (2003-2006), show close-ups of half naked men and women, breaking, rubbing and tearing ripe fruits as they eat, suck, lick and then stuff them with abandon into their mouths. What begins with erotic overtones (Agnes Eats and Alissa Eats feature the bared breasts of the eating women) ends quickly in revulsion and repugnance, as the haste and greed displayed in the eating of the fruits replaces erotic titillation with associations of debauchery. The work is not only a commentary on individual excess; it is also a statement about the way society deals with themes of food production, distribution and consumption.
