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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Baked Potato Teapot
Rachel Shimpock (American, born in 1976)
2011
Object Place: Seal Beach, California
Medium/Technique
Copper, brass, enamel, silver fork, peridot, green sapphire, diamond dust
Dimensions
Height x width: 14 × 21.6 × 10.2 cm (5 1/2 × 8 1/2 × 4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of The Enamel Arts Foundation
Accession Number2024.2232a-b
ClassificationsEnamels
At the same scale as the fresh baked potato it references, this sculpture is familiar even as it is also deliberately absurd in its stiff and lush shininess, golden butter dripping off its enamel edge. Through her work as a metalsmith, Shimpock loves to explore the sensuality and even guilty pleasure of our encounters with comfort food. As she puts it, “I am part of the gastronomic population that knows carrots are better; but I would rather wear my cheeseburger and eat it too."
InscriptionsSigned on the base: Rachel Shimpock
Provenance2015, sold by the artist to the Enamel Arts Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; 2023, gift of the Enamel Arts Foundation to the MFA. (Accession date: February 14, 2024)