A lot of art out there goes over my head. It’s my fault, really — I’m not very educated in art and don’t usually understand the context.

But some art I look at and just get. Not because I understand its place in art history or anything, but because it’s just so completely outrageous that I’m astounded that somebody had the chutzpah to do it.

Exhibit A: Shrink-wrapped Japanese couples. A Japanese artist by the name of Haruhiko Kawaguchi has come out with a project called “Flesh Love” that takes a pair of Japanese people and (very briefly) vacuum-packs them in a giant plastic bag and photographs them.

The idea behind Flesh Love is that Kawaguchi is preserving the love between two people, the same way food is preserved when vacuum-sealed. Watch the process for yourself:

It’s not an easy project for the subjects of Flesh Love. Besides the obvious perils of having to cram into an oversized plastic bag with one another, striking the perfect pose, and holding their breath while being completely deprived of air, getting into the bag itself can be a pain.

Reportedly, about five liters (a little over a gallon) of lube were needed for each couple to make sure that they could move within the bag without destroying their skin. Rubbing dry plastic on your bare skin is a big no-no.

I’m glad that the couples endured all of the pains of making art because without their sacrifices, we wouldn’t have these incredibly zany pictures today. Thank you, shrink-wrapped Japanese couples; your efforts will be preserved like so much dried fruit.

From Spiegel Online via News On Japan