Chubby Bunny

2006
Model Magic, watercolor, 300+ marshmallow Peeps
NFS (contact me if you would be interested in a similar installation)

This was installed at Work Gallery in downtown Ann Arbor during September 2006, as part of the "Smorgasbord" group exhibition. Hundreds of Peeps, originally hoarded for a costume at 2003's Burning Man, were quietly ossifying in my garage, just waiting for the right project to come along and finish them off. At some point I'd begun to associate them with a childhood game called "Chubby Bunny," in which players cram as many marshmallows into their mouths as possible, repeating "chubby bunny" after each one is inserted. The kid who can cram the most marshmallows in her mouth without choking or vomiting, and can still mumble anything, "wins."

This unfortunate little Bunny is a parasitic host. I suppose you can read all sorts of lofty conceptual stuff into this - the commercialization of holidays and whatnot, the crass repackaging of the natural world, etc. - but it's really just meant to be funny.

Here's what John Carlos Canta had to say in the Sept. 24, 2006 Ann Arbor News, reviewing the show:

"My favorite artwork is Tarrow's mixed-media 'Chubby Bunny.' In this dramatic installation, a slain white rabbit is surrounded by a mob of yellow marshmallow peeps crawling down a nearby gallery wall with many more peeps crossing the gallery floor. Tarrow's gallery statement says the installation reflects the unfortunate end to a children's game where the goal was to engorge as many of these candy chicks as possible in as short a time as possible. As such - and in a flamboyantly eerie manner - it might be said 'Chubby Bunny' is a bit too much of a good thing."