Description
‘Cake and Fish #2’ by Laura Thipphawong
Artist: Laura Thipphawong
Title: ‘Cake and Fish #2’
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 8″ x 8″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2025
Artwork Will Ship From: Canada
About the Artwork:
While much of my work involves critical theory, historical research, and reflective personal philosophy, some of my work is also simply a representation of my lighter side, and the things that amuse me.
This painting symbolizes the conflation of luxury with the natural world, but the title and the content of this painting were first inspired by a throwaway line in a popular TV show from the early 2010s. Can you guess which one? Probably not – it’s a very obscure reference. Many of my paintings have “easter eggs” of pop-culture references, usually to do with horror movies; in this case, however, the line is from a comedy, an episode of Parks and Recreation.
In a mid-series episode, a character is asked to provide food for a party. She suggests cake and pop, and when told that it should be more special, she suggests cake and fish. I’ve always found this line to be particularly funny, and I love the aesthetic that it conjures in my imagination of an elegant table setting combining cake and fish. It’s just one of those little things that I can’t get out of my head, which is usually where I start with all my projects. – Laura Thipphawong
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Laura Thipphawong is a Toronto-based contemporary artist, writer, and historian. She has exhibited art and presented her research internationally in commercial and non-profit galleries and various academic forums. Her surreal and narrative style of highly detailed and imaginative compositions is inspired by folklore, literature, history, science, and psychoanalysis. These various elements are pieced together to create dream-like images and hallucinatory tableaus that symbolically reflect Laura’s interpretation of emotions and experiences.
As a self-taught artist, Laura made her way from a small town in northern Ontario to Toronto to pursue a career in the arts. She now holds a medal and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Critical studies from OCAD University and a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Toronto.
Laura’s work has been featured in several galleries, exhibition spaces, and publications such as CBC Arts, New Visionary Magazine, the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite in Toronto, and the National Gallery of Canada. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Secret Door, an online publication for critical arts writing.