The fluorescent sports drinks found on grocery store shelves are a product of 1960s science to achieve optimal athletics — the big secret was adding salt, sugar and artificial fruit flavouring. Athletes still endorse these products, but most are not actually sipping on the sugar water to reach peak performance. These days the colourful concoction is known as a hangover cure. Still, they hold a supernatural allure.
“The first time I saw a blue drink I was like, ‘Woah,’ it seems like a comical version of the drink of the future,” artist, Cornelius de Bill Baboul tells SLEEK. De Bill Baboul is not a fan of sports drinks per say, but he has always been drawn to them. So much so that he ended up taking home a Gatorade to his studio one day. After a few sips, he found the vivd blue drink wasn’t his cup of tea, so he repurposed the bottle as a vase and watched the white flowers turn an electric shade of violet. This is how his new series Thirsty, then boosted was born.
The photo series features white flowers sucking up the performance enhancing liquids and artificial colouring to transform into something between natural and synthetic. While floral art is a new medium for the Berlin-based artist, he does not have go-to materials. Other works of his, employ materials such as cheese, like in Museum of Modern Rat, and bronze, like in Chewing Bronze. “Every time I do a new work I change mediums and I change methodology,” de Bill Baboul said. “It is very much driven by something that I would take an interest in and want to investigate.”
Check out his floral series below.
