It's Toasted

Leesey’s It's Toasted is a Pop Art meditation on the seductive and disheartening nature of advertising. A third-eyed and deeply dejected Andy Warhol stares out from the center of the composition as if even he—the undisputed master of subversive corporate aesthetic art—is sick of the relentless assault of commercial images. The work's title refers to Lucky Strike cigarettes' famous slogan (forever immortalized in Mad Men). Leesey highlights the devious and parallel strategies behind convincing people to buy and desire unhealthy pleasures by placing the two packs of Lucky Strikes on the painting's lower left, mirroring the candy above it. The activity and chaos of the picture—each element (or, more aptly, commodity) fighting for attention—conveys the overpowering onslaught of the advertisements confronting us daily.