Even in trash there is an air of seduction

BEIJING - Few people may be able to get excited over the guts of a fish, sores on human skin, or a half-eaten peach. But Mary A. Johnson, an American artist and lecturer at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, is fascinated by such things and embraces them in her works.

In Johnson's creations, food clearly plays a prominent role, as does the tension between the visually seductive and repulsive, transience and decay.

"I would like to create a fluid experience of sensory dissonance," she said.