Buff Monster and his ice cream sculptures

The metaphors of life in Melt with me, by Buff Monster

Text by Mariana Gaona. Traduction by Briana Prieto.

Photos by Briana Prieto and Doménica Armendáriz

Buff Monster, a New York artist influenced by pop art, japanese culture, ice cream and graffiti, opened his exhibition Melt with me in 168 Bowery in New York. Where he portrayed deep metaphors of life and coexistence in society through sculptures.

The exhibition was the result of a year of sculptural research. This artist has created images around ice cream for 15 years, why? “Ice cream is a metaphor for life,” said the artist.

“Mister melty,” the character of his work, is optimistic, confident and happily unaware of his (melted) fate. Sounds like anyone you might know? Well he is more fortunate than us, because being made out of concrete and fiberglass will keep his melting appearance forever; we will not be so lucky…

It took over a year of work to make one of the newness of this exhibition, the “Big Mister melty”, of 24 inches tall; made with fiberglass, high impact resin and automotive paint.

As Buff claims, time impacts all things, but nothing as dramatically as ice cream. Thus, what appeared to be an innocent dessert that is enjoyed on hot summer evenings, becomes “the perfect modern symbol of death and decay.”

“Our society is a big ice cream cone melting towards nothing.”

The artist don’t stop there. He believes that “our society is a big ice cream cone melting towards nothing.” And if it wasn’t enough, he thinks it’s happening much faster than any of us could have imagined.

If you feel like having a piece of Buff Monster’s in your living room, prices range from 75 to 17 thousand dollars. although one of his fans found a way to have an art piece of Buff’s work and never have leave it behind: he tattooed a drawing the artist created on his arm.

After Buff’s metaphors ice cream will not have the same sense… will it?