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Food

Behold the Ceramic Neon Malt Liquor of Your Dreams

Never forget that time you played Edward 40 hands with Colt 45's and totally didn't regret it.

"colt 45 malt liquor vessel" (fine china) ceramic, stucco and neon 2016 #PatrickMartinez

A photo posted by @patrick_martinez_studio on Jan 5, 2016 at 8:06pm PST

You can't get drunk from stucco, ceramic, and neon, but that frustrating fact doesn't make this new sculpture called colt 45 malt liquor vessel from LA-based artist Patrick Martinez any less refreshing. Martinez has a history or elevating the mundane into riveting artworks—his 2013 solo show Buy Now, Cry Later was all about repurposing advertising techniques into a critique of consumerism. "[Martinez] uses subject matter such as everyday people that aren't usually painted into the limelight and elements of the city that would be thought of as objects we take for granted. He uses these objects as communicative mediums," reads the artist's bio on his website. We can't think of a better example than the lowly malt liquor bottle placed on a neon altar.

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Having come up in the street art world, we'd be surprised if Martinez hadn't chugged a few of these, and the sculpture brings back fond memories of brass monkeys and dumpsters outside McDonalds. It's continued ubiquity trumps that of more artful craft beers, and the brew has a history dating back to 1963. Don't we all have stories centered around drinking a forty ounce back when? Afroman even raps about his own story of the beverage in 2001's "Crazy Rap." Maybe the malt liquor deserves a little neon and idolotry now and again.

Detail: "colt 45 malt liquor vessel" (fine china) ceramic, stucco and neon 2016 #PatrickMartinez

A photo posted by @patrick_martinez_studio on Jan 5, 2016 at 8:06pm PST

"colt 45 malt liquor vessel" (fine china) ceramic, stucco and neon 2016 #PatrickMartinez

A photo posted by @patrick_martinez_studio on Jan 5, 2016 at 8:05pm PST

See more of Patrick Martinez's work on Instagram and his website.

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