Price Gouged

On the left, a pristine bag of Lay’s potato chips stands upright and intact. On the right, a second Lay’s wrapper lies crushed into a discarded ball—its form deflated, its presence diminished.
 
This painting responds to the exploitative pricing practices of corporate giants like PepsiCo, which raised prices dramatically during the pandemic and have maintained those inflated costs long after. Price Gouged is a visual indictment of corporate greed—a commentary on how profit is prioritized over people, and how even the most ordinary comforts are manipulated in the name of shareholder value. The juxtaposition of the untouched and the discarded package underscores the widening gap between those who can absorb these changes and those who are left with less.