ediblesf.com | 15 Replicating vintage recipe cards from Betty Crocker and Weight Watchers is symbolic. The Weight Watchers philosophy is restraint/restriction, and Betty Crocker is baking, abundance, and excessive... You can even tell the difference with the cards—all the Weight Watchers have artificial sweetener. There’s a section for calorie counting…they don’t directly say it’s for losing weight, but we all know what it stands for. How do you find the duality within these selections [to paint] in terms of what they represent? It’s nice to have a mix of something appealing juxtaposed with something definitely more off-putting. As long as there’s tension in the assortment of images…abundance doesn’t mean when something is unlimited, it’s positive. There’s a range within what is actually good for you. Abundance can be over the top. Your collection ‘A Meal In Itself’ speaks to this. Which painting captures the complexities of abundance? The one that comes to mind is ‘Serves You Right’. It’s the one with the eggs and orange JELL-O. It’s very beautiful—the light just bounces through these stained glass JELL-O eggs—but it’s extremely gross. It has anchovies on top and an olive. And the way it’s presented, it’s like you’re serving your guests. The title is cheeky, like, “Yeah, serves you right, you ordered this disgusting shit,”…it’s this gross meal that I’m serving to you as a gift. When you’re painting these salmon aspics and jellies, what goes through your mind? Humor and horror. I love horror movies. I’m very attracted to repulsive things. Within context [laughs]. Practical illusions in old Cronenberg movies, all the body horror. Really love that, which also has a lot to do with the sculptural aspects of things. How do you feel the abundance trap has evolved in 2025? The [biggest] change is the luxury aspect of abundance. Now people have access to seeing people having access to luxury— we’re seeing abundance as luxury. Ignorance is bliss. If I can’t see a billionaire eating a $1K can of caviar, then it can't hurt me. But now that people are seeing that, people are aiming for that versus just being satisfied. San Francisco has over 3,000 restaurants and more than 130,000 food-insecure residents. How do you feel this mirrors the abundance paradox of your paintings? San Francisco is such an interesting place to be. There’s so much here. So many resources. California is such a fantastic place for food and agriculture, but there’s an aspect of that that’s off-putting: there are so many rich people here and so many inaccessible things…There’s so much food. There’s so much waste. We can make do with what we have. 1 A painting process 2 Sculpture work 3 In studio 4 Rokas' new line-up of sculptures 5 'Serves You Right' by Laura Rokas, courtesy of Rebecca Camacho Presents 6 'Double Your Pleasure' by Laura Rokas, courtesy of Rebecca Camacho Presents 7 'Mother's Little Helper' by Laura Rokas, courtesy of Rebecca Camacho Presents 6 5 4 7 5 6 7
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