According to the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. citizens consume 224.6 pounds of red meat and poultry per year on average. Xinli Li, a New York City-based artist and designer, was inspired by the massive consumption of meat, re-considered the relationship between human beings and animals, and created a series of 3D collection – “Meat Boy”.
“I am not a Vegetarian, but when I saw people eat and laugh in restaurants, I realize that few of us think about living poultry before we sit by the dinner tables,” Xinli said. Before the creation of “Meat Boy” Xinli first illustrated a series of animal poster designs, titled “Consumed Animal Documentation.” Goats, ducks, and other animals are positioned with the feeling of despair and call for their death of cuisine. The artist aims to remind the audience that what human beings eat every day comes from living souls. The artist finished “Consumed Animal Documentation” in 2019 and develop this topic with another illustration “Power of Consume and Control” in 2020.
“People show off their power when they kill, eat, or abuse animals. ” Xinli depicts what “Power of Consume and Control” illustrate to its audience. He then explores the deeper concern regarding this. The work “Triptych on Human-Animal Relationship” describe a relationship of Murdering the Eatable, Torturing the Useable, and Abusing the Likable. It is a more vivid and direct depitction of this topic on visuality and title. “I hope people would think about reducing animals’ pain when they consume them. We must remember and appreciate that we are alive because of these living souls.” Xinli emphasized.
It took about 2 years for Xinli to develop this topic from visual content to physical subject. “Meat Boy” is the latest 3D design to represent the most essential idea of the relationship between humans and animals. The artist created a character with human and animal heads, which can be switched, and he encourages the audience to reconsider the issue of consumable animals. “The audience can easily install the animal’s head into or take it off from the human body. It is a symbolic element in the ‘Meat Boy’ collection. I hope we should remember that what we eat from animals becomes part of our bodies and it was real life before it turns into food.”
