The Tea Party

Hello my name is John Bonath 

Humor, in light of the gravity of the world condition today, allows me to dis-

tance myself from my fears and despair. In so doing, humor functions as a type of defense mechanism that encourages me to go on despite the horror that sur-

rounds us. Reality is often quite absurd. As I see it, life is not black and white, but dichot-

omies and opposite truths that coexist simultaneously. In this day and age, a lie spoken a hundred times will become a truth; an untruth can be seem as truth in

opposition to any established fact. The world of kitsch reflects this irony from a

humorous perspective, giving credence while denying credibility.

The Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland is a wonderful epitome of the

blurred line between sense and nonsense. The Mad Hatter says at his tea party, “If

I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what

it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it

wouldn’t be.” The March Hare said to Alice, “Take some more tea,” . Alice replied in an offended tone, “I’ve had nothing yet, so I can’t take more. “ The Hatter said back, “You mean you can’t take less, it’s very easy to take more than nothing.

Which brings me to my attraction to Peeps because they make no sense at all and are full of existential contradiction. They are prized for their peculiar form of bizarre absurdity, and have evolved into a cult following. It seems that Peeps appear out of nowhere once a year and invade consumer store shelves much like the cicadas swarmming out of the ground. 

Every eight seconds, one baby is born in the United States and 509 Peeps are made. You would need about 7,000 Peeps stacked toe to ear to reach the top of the Empire State Building, more than 87 million Peeps to stretch continuously from New York City to Los Angeles, about 430 million Peeps to circle the moon and about 127 quadrillion Peeps to fill the Grand Canyon. After a lifelong fascination with the Peep, I finally started to explore my own personal symbolism with them in my art. I have always thought of them as some thing from another planet, that try as I may, eluded my understanding. For me, Peeps became a medium of sarcastic, allegorical tableaux, recognizing the helpless breed of creature they are (devoid of arms, legs or even lips). The images in this series possess a spirit of dark humor, reflecting the way in which I see and think.

This “Tea Party” installation is a Mad Hatter’s tea party in celebration of nonsense and all things Peep.