CREAM

About This Piece

This handmade ceramic vase by contemporary artist Dimitria Barrows fuses classical porcelain motifs, animation history, and hip-hop culture into a visual allegory of money and ambition. Around the rim, the phrase "C.R.E.A.M."—short for "Cash Rules Everything Around Me"—references Wu-Tang Clan's financial mantra, played out through Tom and Jerry chasing each other across the vessel's surface. On one side, Jerry spears a wedge of cheese placed on a Ming-style porcelain plate, merging imperial ceramic symbolism with pop culture. The reverse shows Tom pushing an empty barrel, turning the cartoon rivalry into a metaphor for labor, desire, and lack. Blending slapstick, Chinese ceramic tradition, and hip-hop commentary, Barrows offers a pointed reflection on how ideas of value circulate across time and culture.

Themes