You make me smile with your art

"You know you’re gonna have a good day when your breakfast smiles at you," writes food photographer and rib tickler extraordinaire Elisson. (Blog d'Elisson photo)

"Now, that’s what I call a real Happy Meal!" says Elisson, who knows what a hungry eye wants:

[FYI, this is exactly how my plate looked when it arrived yesterday morning. Except for the raisin eye-pupils, which I added in order to provide a “demented” effect.]

Yes, but it's those very artfully placed cockeyed raisins that transform the objet trouvé into a work of art. Plus, like all great art, it contains layers of meaning, sending the mind's eye of the beholder on flights of fancy and self-revelation. For example, give his breakfast a quarter turn, and you're in EXTRA Happy Meal territory:

"A variation of :) that implies someone is extra happy," says Sharpened Glossary Definitions of Emoticons of the above emoticon.

Continuing to read into Elisson's original "statement," try turning it 180, and we're talkin' Eric Cartman of "South Park":

 

According to Wikipedia, South Park creators "Stone and Parker have said that … Cartman is largely inspired by All in the Family patriarch Archie Bunker, and creating him as a 'little eight-year-old fat kid' made it easier for the two to portray a Bunker-like character after the introduction of political correctness to late-20th-century television."

What can you read into our own artful edible, Mr. Grapefruit, a regular on the Sunday Breakfast circuit?

Update: New layers of meaning, with religious overtones, emerge from a midmorning imail conversation:

She: I always thought that :-D was a snide thing, not a happy thing, and have been using it inappropriately for YEARS.

We : LOL. Spreading extra happiness unbeknownst to you.

The Lord does move in mysterious ways.

Comments

[Elisson]

Is it my imagination, or does Mr. Grapefruit bear a passing resemblance to the gentleman in The Scream? :D

[Laura Lee Donoho]

I love it! I had my grandson, Aidan over to spend the night this weekend and I showed him your Happy Meal photo and it was all he wanted for breakfast Sunday morning. We didn't have the grapefruit so I actually had to go out and get it.

He prefers Sponge Bob over Eric Cartman so he had his Sisu Happy Meal while watching Sponge Bob. This was the first time Aidan had tried an English muffin and he liked it! He always liked raisins.

My husband is an expert omelet maker and he joyfully made one for his beloved grandson. So happy day! Your art, (and it is art) made a journey all the way from Chelsea by the sea to the foothills of the Ozarks.

The Lord does indeed move in mysterious ways to get a skinny little five year old to eat.