Makatron, Kama Sutra Burger (2015).
Photo: Mike Maka.
Melbourne’s 20-foot-tall mural featuring what can only be described as a hamburger orgy will be short-lived. The local council has opted to “edit” Kama Sutra Burger, a racy work by street artist Mike Maka, better known as Makatron, to obscure the work’s sexual imagery.
The painting, commissioned by a local business owner in Brunswick, depicts a massive, multi-layer hamburger, with writhing nudes nestled among the all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions—on a sesame seed bun.
The artist has described the work to Mashable as a “comment on how media uses sex to sell anything, especially women’s bodies. It’s a mash up celebration of human diversity, body shapes, colors and tastes of all types of people.”
Artists looking to make fast food subversive tend to go for corporate mascots; for instance, a zombie-fied Ronald McDonald has become such a cliché that it was parodied by none other than street artist Shepard Fairey on this past season of Portlandia.
Is the sex burger a beautiful new sub-genre?
As far as orgies go, Maka’s mural, greasy though it may be, actually isn’t that explicit, but that doesn’t mean that the community is comfortable with his libidinous artwork. “Art is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but our arts and culture team does think there are a couple of parts of the image that might have crossed a few lines,” Moreland mayor Meghan Hopper told the Guardian.
Makatron, Kama Sutra Burger (2015).
Photo: Mike Maka.
Maka isn’t thrilled with the idea, but he’s coming to terms with it. “I’ve never been censored, so although it’s not a pleasure to adjust something to please some people’s opinions, I can understand that council wants to find the middle ground,” he admitted to the Guardian.
The street artist will be selling uncensored t-shirts featuring the original mural design in all its orgasmic, beefy glory for those who are fans of hamburger themed artworks.