All magic is welcome, including transformations, however, if someone is not comfortable, she/he/it can
always ask for a sugar cube and get restored to the former self/form.2
But yes, but yes! (1-5) are five pigment prints on cotton paper, framed in exclusive white varnished frames. The prints mainly show face-like shapes, weird smileys, and the like, all drawn with ketchup. Taken from pictures of ketchup-decorated rice omelettes (omurices), these shapes are cut out and left alone “smiling” on white paper surfaces.
Designed and served by maids at Japanese Maid Cafes3, these designs on omurices underline the picture of the maid as being innocent and pampering. Maid Cafes, originated in the early 2000s, are a sub-category of cosplay restaurants and famous in Japan. The maids are tied to characters from anime, video games, and manga. "Consuming ‘maids’ is consuming a world where ‘maids’ exist, […] It is some other place and time.”4. In a Maid Cafe, waitresses treat customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, “Welcome home master,” is the typical welcome greeting, and "Is this your first time coming home?” the question to introduce the fantasy.
Is this your first time coming home?
The colours covering parts of the framed pictures' glass surfaces are nail polishes5 trying to permeate the glass and come into the picture. XXL SHINE essence gel-look by essence colour & go even mimics “smileys”, and 204 French White by KIKO, by forming an h, for home, also tries to come into the picture, to come home. 157 my fortune cookie by essence colour & go, 222 STAGE DOOR by Astor FASHION STUDIO, 50 sunny day by Brilliant Nails, sparkle touch 261 Pearly Amethyst, 296 Meadow Green, and 389 Mint Milk by KIKO, Suzi's Hungary AGAIN! by OPI, 655 she's amazing by ANNY, as well as 617 HOLIDAY by CHANEL, among others try just the same.
This series is accompanied by Nail polish names and numbers by OPI and Yves Saint Laurent proclaiming their sadness or happiness, and Nail polish names and numbers by essie and CHANEL proclaiming their sadness or happiness, a selection of nail polish names, numbers, and descriptions by Chanel and essie, OPI and Yves Saint Laurent, which by addressing Lisa (me), proclaim their sadness or happiness in two elegant text pieces. Also these are pigment prints on cotton paper framed in exclusive white varnished frames.
In addition, an edition of two life-size finger USB-sticks, slightly stained with nail polish, provide a PDF including documentation of all these works as well as additional material to But yes, but yes!
Today Lisa is wearing … by …
LH 2013
1“So then, so then, and love, and love, is it always reciprocal? But yes, but yes!“ THE SEMINAR OF JACQUES LACAN, BOOK XX Encore, 1972-1973
2The 2nd house rule of The Fresh Maid Cafe. cf. http://www.magicalsailorfuku.net/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=19037
3Cf. http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/13/cuteness-is-served-exploring-japans-maid-culture/
4Ibid. Citation by Patrick Galbraith, the author of the books The Otaku Encyclopedia and Otaku Spaces.
5Apart from the fact that since a few years most nail polish brands, besides the more old fashioned numbers, give weird, funny, and poetic names and sometimes even one or two sentence long descriptions to their nail polishes, to describe, distinguish and market their different colours, nail polish is the new lipstick. Desire concerned with both lipstick and nail polish within a couple of years seems to have moved from our sensuous lips to our potentially aggressive nails. “There’s no doubt about it—nail polish is the new lipstick. And I’m not just saying this because of my mad obsession. In 2001, Estée Lauder board chairman Leonard Lauder coined the term “lipstick index.” It describes a phenomenon in the early 2000s: an increase in lipstick sales despite the recession. During hard times, when people tighten purse strings and cut back on bigger luxuries, women turn to the cheaper thrill of makeup. … Over a decade later, the lipstick index has been replaced by the “nail polish index.” Market research firm Mintel revealed that lipstick sales have been dwindling since 2007. NPD Group, another market research firm, reported that while lip product sales grew by eight percent in the first 10 months of 2011, nail polish sales increased by 59 percent.“ (cf. http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/45243/nail-polish-is-the-new-lipstick)