Valerie Hegarty at Nichelle Beauchene

Valerie Hegarty, Watermelon Tongue, canvas, stretcher, acrylic paint, modeling paste, paper, glue, foil, gauze, glue, thread, 2012.
Valerie Hegarty, Watermelon Tongue, canvas, stretcher, acrylic paint, modeling paste, paper, glue, foil, gauze, glue, thread, 2012.

This is one watermelon you do not want to eat…or be eaten by.  A giant lick of modeling paste extends from Valerie Hegarty’s repulsive ‘Watermelon Tongue,’ curbing the appetite and recalling ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ one inspiration for this painting.  Hegarty was also thinking of last year’s news reports of exploding watermelons in China, which were mistakenly sprayed with growth accelerator.  Now do you want to know where your food comes from?  (At Nichelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side, through October 20th).