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Artist Recreates Whitney Houston's Last Meal For NYC Exhibit
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 27, 2012
Modified Apr 27, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 27, 2012
Modified Apr 27, 2012
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Left: real scene, via TMZ; Right: Demand's recreation, via Matthew Marks Gallery
Following Whitney Houston's death in February, photos of her last meal were published by TMZ. A table had been set up in Houston's hotel room where she was served a hamburger, fries, a turkey sandwich and jalepenos, along with champagne and Heineken. She later took some of that food on a tray into the bathroom, to presumably finish the meal in the bathtub where she would later die. Now the NY Times reports that this scene (which they describe as "gruesome") from the Beverly Hilton Hotel has been recreated by photographer Thomas Demand.
Demand says, "The proliferation of that kind of image at the time when she was not even in the coffin amazed me. It amazed me that it would ever have been released." So naturally, he felt the need to take it a step further. Artists! To recreate the scene, he headed to the Beverly Hilton and checked into a room with the same layout as the one Houston was staying in. He then ordered the same food.
His photograph of his recreated scene will be on display starting May 5th at the Matthew Marks Gallery (West 22nd Street in Chelsea). For now, a comparison of the scenes are above... seems like Demand got hungry and ate all the fries before taking his shot.
Tagged
art
last meal
thomas demand
Whitney Houston
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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