We’ve all heard the stories about the outrageous riders that many high-profile musicians have whenever they perform somewhere—provisions to their contract stating that if, say, Mariah Carey doesn’t have her Cristal, or Rihanna doesn’t have turkey sausage at the ready, the gig is off.
Photographer Henry Hargreaves has turned these prima-donna demands into his artistic muse, gathering the foodstuffs and other items demanded by artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Busta Rhymes (Guinness and condoms!) and turning them into “Flemish Baroque” still-life photos. He says of the high-art approach: “I felt that there was a direct connection between the themes in these types of paintings and the riders: the idea of time passing and the ultimate mortality of a musician’s career as the limelight inevitably fades—they only have a short time in which they are able to make these demands and have them fulfilled.”
Check out some of our favorites above, then check out the whole series over at Vice.
[via Vice]
