Turkey-shaped Jell-O® Mold: 2010 Competition

Each year for the past several years, we've blogged the results of the Turkey-shaped Jell-O® Mold Competition hosted at David Byrne's creative studio in New York, curated and documented in art world satire flair by Danielle Spencer. I'm a few days late posting this year's—I blame my holiday cold!—but while actual turkey leftovers are the stuff of misery, these faux turkey leftovers are the stuff of delight. Above, David Byrne's entry: "Pumpkin Pie."

The gold medal winner this year went to artist Cassandra C. Jones (above right, with Danielle in the headband), whose work we've featured on the blog and on an episode of Boing Boing Video; a special honor went to her husband Mikael Jorgensen (above left, with Danielle), whom you may best know as a member of American indie roots band Wilco and side project Pronto.

Gobble-Pop

Following Jasper Johns' dictum, Jones takes the turkey and "does something to it", ultimately effecting a masterful transformation that--like Johns--seemingly effortlessly addresses Americana and object-hood in one unimpeachable statement. Encaustic-like in its encasing, the Gobble-pop is a delirious concoction of creamy vanilla with a seductive skin of chocolate, slyly referencing the genre of country fair food-on-a-stick with humble hyperbole while elevating the commonplace to an aesthetic platform like no other. Gold Medal winner [by popular election] for "Best Overall Turkey"

By Cassandra C. Jones

Turkey-shaped Jell-O® Mold: 2010 Competition (daniellespencer.com)

• [cleek]

  “actual turkey leftovers are the stuff of misery”

  this is sad.

  i love leftover turkey. so does my wife. so do our cats.

  • [Anonymous]

    Leftover turkey is awesome. Turkey sammiches FOREVER!!

• [Xeni Jardin]

  A TURKEY LEFTOVER CONCERN TROLL! spotted in the wild!

• [Donald Petersen]

  I like turkey leftovers slightly more than first-iteration turkey dinners. I also really, really LOVE pumpkin pie.

  But Byrne has cooled my holiday enthusiasm a bit. Never before have I seen something that sight-unseen would be the most delicious treat ever, look so much like it deserves cartoon stink-lines and a couple of houseflies rising from its fresh-plopped recumbency.

  Boy, ya got me there, Dave. I had no idea that my love for pumpkin pie depended so completely on its topography being utterly flat and featureless. Now all I can see is a turkey-shaped turd.

• [Mitch]

  Supermarket turkey is pretty gross. I just eat it to make Mom happy.

  Is Danielle Native American? I couldn’t help but notice what she’s wearing on her head.

• [Anonymous]

  The internet wants to know why you report the winners of this contest every year, but continue to ignore the equally-important Guac Bowl in February.

• [someToast]

  My Thanksgiving breakfast burrito — with egg, turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy in a wrap — would like to respectfully disagree.

• [thatbob]

  The smear against turkey leftovers was only a feint to distract us from the characterization of Wilco as “indie”! Don’t fall for it!