Based in Toronto, Wendy Ding works with digital, traditional and art illustrations. I came across a few of her bodily food images on the Shedoesthecity.com. Soon after, I discovered her interest in semi-bared female figures in her illustrations, fuelled by her fascination with fashion. Ding´s projects include an unusual area map, involving skirt length and the wearers’ locations. She does monthly tutorial articles for the U.K. magazine Web Designer and continues to develop her online store.

Gallery: Tasty Pin-ups

Q: I first caught one of your Food Girl images on a local site, Shedoesthecity.com. What did you think of your work in this context?¨
A: I think it’s quite suitable because the site is a great resource for young women to be creative, discover art, music and lifestyle trends, and lead fun lives. It’s synonymous with the theme in most of my work, which is also about expressing unbridled happiness and imagination with lots of energy.¨

Q: How did you develop this series of illustrations, in terms of constructing suggestive girls at scale with certain food items?¨
A: I’ve always loved drawing sexy and elegant girls, and the idea developed from a sketch. I wanted to juxtapose pin-ups with unexpected scenarios and objects to make them more whimsical and interesting. The hot dog girl came first as I drew a Bettie Page-inspired pin-up who is reclining, and then it hit me: she would look great lying in a hot dog bun! And it snowballed from there. I experimented with different food items that would wrap, surround and present the girls in different settings to see how many ways they can interact together, and it eventually became a series.

Q: Do you feel there’s a sense of character in this series?¨
A: I’d say the character is me, since I’ve often been told by friends and fellow artists that the pin-ups resemble me in appearance and personality. A lot of my traits flow into my pin-ups because it’s an external representation of my inner sassiness, playfulness and energy.¨

Q: Are you interested in ideas of women’s emotional or erotic relationship to food?
A: Sure, I’m fascinated by foods that are considered “sexier,” like chocolate, candy, ice cream, etc., as they are the “babes” of the food industry, much like how pin-ups are the idealized beauties of the female form. I think that’s the connection between the two and they go hand in hand.¨

¨Q: Do you feel some personal identification with any of your pin-ups?
¨A: I certainly do. There are three things about myself that reoccur in the food girls: 1) I love being naked, 2) I love food, and 3) I am drawn to surreal, colourful and retro-inspired patterns. I consider the food girls a self-indulgent series since it’s me expressing most truthfully who I am.¨

¨Q: What do you find interesting about classic pin-up poses, their enduring appeal?¨
A: Everything – the lift of the high-heeled leg, the doll-like eyes, perfect lips, flirty fingers, pantyhose, I could go on. Their elegance and beauty feels like they came from another world full of amazing imagination, perpetual happiness and sunshine. It’s most fun for me to imagine what it must have been like to be one of them – granted times were much more sexist back then, but I would love to try on their heels and garter belts.¨

¨Q: You seem to be conscious of ethnic difference in this work, like with your sushi girl. What do you feel about her form, the Pantone stripes on her body?¨
A: To really hit home with the personal touch, I modelled her after myself. That is actually my face and the Pantone stripes on her body represent shrimp patterns to make her look more the part. As for her form, she is slightly mysterious with her sultry stare, extended leg and delicate fingers. I wanted her to be like decorative icing on the cake, although in this case the cake is a sushi roll.¨

¨Q: As you’re bringing senses of yourself to your erotic figures, what do you think of how Asian girls are commonly eroticized in the West?
¨A: My guess is they might still be eroticized stereotypically: good at massages, cooking and laundry, and perhaps good in the bedroom too. They might think because we look “exotic” with dark hair and bronze skin, we might possess some secret Asian seductive power they may not have experienced in the Western world. Especially with heavenly images of geishas and Kama Sutra, I can see why it’s even more mystifying. Personally, I think it would be fun to vamp up the mystery and create my own version of an Asian seductress, such as doing the dishes in a kimono or speaking strictly in your mother tongue to your lover.

Q: More explicitly, you put a pattern of hands on an exposed female form. Can you tell us about this image?¨
A: This image was my submission for an erotic art book. The only guideline was that the image is “erotic” and I interpreted it using graphic and expressive shapes. I wanted it to be artfully hard-core, like what porn would look like if it were illustrated in a stripped-down way. The pattern of groping hands on the female body evokes lust, and its simple and graphic treatment conveys the raw, uncontained and visceral quality of sex.¨

Q: You seem to like working with pin-ups and erotic types, like the stylish teacher you composed for a vinyl cover. Do you find it interesting, the idea of presenting girls as erotic types?¨
A: Showing girls as erotic types is a theme I’ve been surrounded by from an early age. Growing up, I was always immersed in heroine or female-centred entertainment like the anime show Sailor Moon, the video game Tomb Raider, Barbie dolls, singers like Janet Jackson, and pretty much anything to do with girls, femininity and sexuality. From that, I developed my own sense of out-of-the-ordinary eroticism. In general, I love injecting eroticism into girls in all media and scenarios; I find it makes the situation more fun and provocative.¨

¨Q: Do you have any emotional, erotic role models?¨
A: I have a profound love for burlesque, retro and pin-up babes. To name a few, I adore Dita Von Teese, Bettie Page, Cyd Charisse, Louise Brooks, Twiggy, Josephine Baker and Bond girls.

Q: Can you tell us about your four-season calendar? Do you associate different emotional, amorous states to different seasons?
¨A: My favourite season is undoubtedly summer because it’s the most fun to play with my wardrobe. I have a rather large closet full of clothes – mainly skirts, dresses and girly getups – that I’ve coveted over the years, and the illustrations in the calendar are actually of some of my favourite outfits. Like the food girls, the calendar is another self-indulgent piece, this time on my fashion sense. I like experimenting with different pieces, patterns and colours in fashion, much like how I mix different food items with pin-ups.

Q: You’ve created storyboards, influenced by West Side Story. Are you interested in certain romance narratives from the past, or what´s around at the present?¨
A: I grew up with fairy tales, idealized romantic stories and the like, so I do have a soft spot for romance stories. I am fonder of narratives from the past only because they have a stronger grasp on me due to their age, but it’s always interesting to see how love and romance is interpreted and reapplied in modern-day situations in movies, songs and shows.¨

Q: Would you tell about the graphic novel you´re working on? Is it erotic?¨
A: Actually, it’s not erotic at all! It’s a children’s/teen girl’s book on friendship, loyalty and peer pressure. I would love to do an erotic graphic novel though.¨

¨Q: Pin-ups were linked with advertising in the past. What do you think of how sexy girl pics seem to be used to market everything in our culture now?
A: For me, it’s fine as long as there’s a fun twist in the way the girl is presented, acts or appears; she can’t just be blatantly sexualized. I’m a fan of originality and clever reinterpretations, and a commercial that does this is the current Axe ad for the new loofah (or shower tool, I think it was called) for guys, where they used the analogy of a car wash. Now, I know the car wash is a clichéd scenario with soapy, wet, bikini-clad girls romping around, but they changed things up by portraying the women as fierce, strong and almost robot-like. Also, the girls are dominant and sexy without showing much skin, and it’s their voice and body language that bring out their sexuality and ultimately sell the product.¨

Q: You’ve said you’re drawn to beauty in everyday life. I noticed your skirt-length stats. What do you find beautiful or interesting in what girls are wearing commonly? ¨
A: Going back to my love for originality, I think the most beautiful and interesting thing a girl can wear is anything that tells me a story specifically about her. A conversation-starter hair clip, eye-stopping makeup and a superhero outfit in the grocery store – anything goes. It just needs to be something the girl wears because she’s not afraid to stand out and show the world who she really is.¨

¨Q: I guess some people think skirt length can impact erotic gaze. Do you think girls in shorter-than-short are always more noticeable?
A: They may be more noticeable but that doesn’t mean they are more interesting. I like when there is still room left for imagination and fantasy. A micro-mini skirt may grab my attention first, but a normal length skirt with a unique slit or matching bra that’s just peeking will be much harder to take my eyes off of. I like something that will resonate with me not necessarily because of how much skin was revealed, but how it was revealed.¨

Q: Are there elements, other then food, you´d like to bring to your pin-up figures?¨
A: I’ve thought about combining daily objects such as electronic appliances, utensils and furniture. I’d love to do an ad piece in the future and it would be great to have my pin-up endorse a product.

More art from Wendy Ding: www.wendyding.com

Louise Bak is a poet, with books including Tulpa and Gingko Kitchen. She co-hosts Sex City, Toronto’s only radio show focused on relations between sexuality and culture (CIUT 89.5 FM). Her performance work has appeared in numerous spaces and in video collaborations such as Partial Selves and Crimes of the Heart.