History Re-Peeps Itself

So, folks, I've done it again. I've spent countless hours I can never get back crafting an art project from marshmallow Peeps for the Washington Post Peeps diorama contest. (A contest which has never shown me any love, yet I continue to try and win its affection.)

That says more about me than you know.

This year's? An homage to Annie Leibovitz's iconic photo of Keith Haring:

There's Annie Peepovitz taking the photo.
With a Barbie camera. 

Peep Haring originally had an "appendage" made
from a Barbie microphone. I removed it before
submitting. I'm confident I will regret that decision.

This also marks the first year I have "gone it alone" in my creation. My Peeps Partner in Crime (PPIC), Hillary, who you may remember from OUR HUGE 2ND PLACE WIN IN CHICAGO IN 2011 with this masterpiece:

had an insanely busy few months and was unable to contribute. I wrote about our win in about four thousand posts on the topic, detailing our journey from the construction of the diorama, to when we found out we were finalists, through our trip to Chicago to deliver the diorama, to getting interviewed on television, to winning second place. To say this was a highlight of my year (fine...my life) would be the most pathetic thing I've ever put in writing an understatement. Read about the journey here:

• TMI on so many levels
• It's like the Oscars -- for Peeps
• Chicago is Fueling the Nerd Fire
• And so it begins
• Photo Essay of the Diorama visiting the DC area
• We can almost taste it (Victory, that is. But also Peeps.)
• I give...and I give....and I give (our Peeps victory-fueled Brutalism/Patch contest)
• Diorama Delivery Adventure - Part 1 - Milwaukee
• Diorama Delivery Adventure - Part 2 - Chicago
• Diorama Delivery Adventure - Third and final part
• Television coverage of us in Chicago delivering the diorama
• And of course, the Big win - in "We're Number Two!"

Our Chicago win also won us the opportunity to display our diorama along with the Washington Post contest winners at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia, for a month:

On display! In a real art gallery! (Ask me how many people I dragged to this...)

Hillary was also my partner in creating many losing entries in prior years:

Steve Jobs meets St. Peepter 2012

Blue Peep Group - 2010

I wrote about losing in 2010 in an entry titled Harshing my Mallow.

Whac-a-Peep 2009

I wrote about losing in 2009 in an entry titled The Susan Lucci of Peeps.

WGA Writer's Strike 2008

I wrote about losing in 2008 in an entry titled Peep Show.

And my first, lame entry into the world of Peeps dioramas:

Peepless in Seattle 2007

I even got the Dilettantes involved in creating a Peeps diorama as a holiday activity:

Festivus. For the rest of us.

Read about that one here.

We are already plotting next year's entry. And not to give anything away, but let's just say that Serrano is a huge influence and we're looking for a way to waterproof marshmallows.

Yours in Peeps,
Brutalism

***CHECK THIS OUT: Today's post was quoted in the Washington Post Express newspaper. They always come to me for insight on the hard-hitting issues:

UPDATE: The Washington Post Style Blog actually featured my diorama in a post about dioramas based on famous works of art. Click here to read this. (Hey -- it's something...)