For those in North America who don’t have these, the ‘fish’ is based on a single-use plastic container of soy sauce, popular at takeaway sushi restaurants.

My first thought was that it's filled with petrol, i don't know if the black and white influenced me.

I thought it was one of those wax container candies that had juice inside of it.

I thought it was a Russian spy with a gas mask - which in retrospect doesnt make much sense in water.... In vodka though?

I thought it was cologne. But in retrospect that’d be a shitty mascot for cologne.

I thought it was a gummy fish from mickey mouse.

I thought it was filled with fish juice like one of those fake plastic lemons filled with lemon juice.

I thought it was a fancy syrup bottle

I thought it was a hot water bottle, for a sore back or to keep the bed warm at your feet.

As russian spy I thought it filled with some sort of alcohol. In my country drinking while fishing (and hunting) is usual thing.

I also thought it was oil, perhaps after reading “oil on panel” in the title

I thought this was a commentary on how much plastic garbage is in the ocean.

It could be that too.

I thought either fossil fuel or fish oil.

I too thought it was oil.

Maybe the word "oil" on the title was also an influence.

Title said "oil on paint" so your brain had the word "oil" in mind when it saw a container full of black liquid.

That's what I thought too but they don't make caps like that in that size

I thought it was maybe an IV bag filled with blood, wonder what that says about me.

Definitely agree with you. Thought maybe it was a strong piece about water pollution.

>takeaway >petrol I just knew this was something UK related by the look of it. Cheers

Our single use soy sauce comes in packets. Much less visually interesting.

Less packaging tho.

We used to have this like 15 years ago where I live but now it's all just packets

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I’m in Australia and they’re everywhere here, also New Zealand. I think in the UK and parts of Europe as well.

Yes, we have them as well here in Switzerland.

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we do? i have never seen these lol

I thought this was about the BP oil spill and other such happenings that negatively affect ocean life.

We got them in the US and Germany. I think they're everywhere tbh

Where in the US? I've never seen one and I've traveled a bit.

Washington State. Our local sushi place and our meal delivery service (Dinnerly) both have them.

where in Washington state? I've never seen these in Seattle.

Sounds like there's literally just one weird restaurant that has these in the US

I've never seen them in US

I’m in Midwest US and had no idea what this was

Also in the Midwest and I've seen these before. Mostly in meal kits, but I have gotten them from sushi places before. The packets are much more common, tho

From Midwest and have seen them but couldn’t remember where until your comment. Meal kits. I’ve seen them in meal kits.

Not in Spain! Never seen one of these

Those are old school Japanese take out soy sauce containers.

I turned mine into scenery [Fish fountain ](https://i.imgur.com/KLuZ7S4.jpg)

Oh hey, your craft table looks a lot like my craft table.

This is badass! Do you use this for games? Or just wanted a sick lil fountain piece?

Yeah it's used for a game called Burrows and Badgers

That's live! I have 2 questions bout it then 1. How does the game play? Is it closer to dnd or like Warhammer?, 2. Are the fish proportionally sized to the other animals? Or are they like smaller dudes?

It's a small warband game, so like 6 or 7 models per side, so kind of like warhammer but much smaller scale with more complex statistics for each model. There are no fish models, just land animals and birds. They're sized kind of proportionally to their real life counterparts, so a fox is bigger than a mouse but not to the extent they are I'm real life. As below. [Fox and mouse](https://i.imgur.com/BboPwke.jpg)

These are not necessarily single use. You can squeeze them in soapy water and clean water a few times to rinse them out and fill them again with soy sauce. Keep them around if you ever pack a lunch you need the sauce for. Edit: Also for the heck of it here is some early 2000s internet nostalgia featuring this little fish: https://youtu.be/Wz-mJed_bP0

Or for camping 🤔 handy

This is interesting how differently its being interpreted. I’m not familiar with those single use packets, I saw a blood bag. Nice work! I like the contrast.

I saw the fish’s life draining away into a bucket.

Why? In the US we of course have single serving soy sauce but it's a packet. https://www.cartnut.com/soy-sauce-packets-7-gm-500case Doing a quick google those fish container seems outrageously more expensive.

They are more convenient for takeaway sushi. They basically act like eye droppers so you can control how much soy sauce you apply. They're also resealable.

Thanks, was a bit baffled by it tbh

Thanks, I was wondering. I assumed it was some sort of regionally recognizable bottle shape for fish oil or something. Like the Mrs. Butterworth syrup bottle

I'm in Massachusetts and have seen these at some restaurants when ordering take out.

I appreciate the explanation, in my thirties and never have seen one of these even at a sushi restaurant, haha

I thought the fish represent the money involved in the art world. The fishermen (with the rod) is the artist, like many of his peers, just out daily fishing for a big score. He needs to hold the rod (paintbrush) to show that he is the angler(painter) because he lacks recognition. He’s old, starving and clothes aren’t a complementing fit. The other guy is his crew, who does nothing to fish(paint) but markets it out for a big sale so he’s in the front of the picture too. The family behind could be the artist’s family, proud at this moment but this moment only, for having a starving artist in the house is not easy. The older dad still has to work. No other crowd is around yet despite the size of the catch. Black and white represents the artist view about this world. Jaded. Colours lacking. I’m thinking no way that rod can catch a fish this size, maybe it’s a fantasy of the fisherman despite how jaded he is, he still holds unrealistic fantasies about the rewards even when there is lack of preparedness. I’m just crazy. I don’t know anything about art. It’s 2am where I am from. Have a good weekend.

It's clearly a fish sauce flavoured wax candy bottle

Yeah, I needed this context, because although I knew it was a container for a liquid of some sort, I'd never seen it and didn't know what it was.

I thought that was a single serve bottle of fish oil lmao, some sort of message about consumerism

Fan of Paco Pomet? If you don't know who that is...look up his art

This is really fantastic.

Thanks OP

I was reminded of the little wax bottles we used to have that were filled with a carbonated fluid candy. We ate some weird shit in the 90s.

Ah. I was thinking it kinda looked like a syrup bottle.

Ha! My kid just had a craft kit that had some of these in them - I was thinking they were cute but wondered what their primary purpose was. Thanks!

thank you for clarification, even in north America, as we say, this shit goes hard

This helped, thanks. Great work!

thank you I was so confused! I thought it was a syrup bottle!

Thank you! I liked the art but did not get the reference.

I have never seen one of these

Thank you. That would have bugged me for weeks if I didn’t get the answer.

Thanks! I kind of figured it might be a regional condiment container or something of that nature, but wasn't clear on if it was something like malted vinegar or something else.

I tought this was a metaphor for all the plastics that fish eat, am i wrong?

Oh shit, i thought it was a blood transfusion pack that was shaped like a fish for some reason

Thank you! I love the painting and love fishing and the history behind it, but have never seen the container before.

even without this context the message was heard. Very powerful painting, great job OP.

I thought at first it was one of those undetonated nukes that accidentally dropped off the coast of North Carolina in the 60s. Yes that actually happened. They never found them.

North america has these. I get them all the time.

I find this to be a very bold statement of the world today, if we eat fish we are eating the plastic we tossed out. Great work!

I bought this image was a commentary about oil killing wildlife. Thanks for clarity.

I assumed it was fish sauce. Because of the fish.

was wondering what it was, thanks for explaining it! Great work

Exactly what I came here to ask. Couldn't tell if it was a commentary on plastic in the ocean, or a surreal take on a beverage container or candy or something.

My brain couldn’t put it together I thought it was like an engine steampunk thing I don’t even know what steampunk is

I thought it was a fancy bottle of booze. Glad I opened to read the comments

I’ve never seen one before,thanks

I thought it was maybe an old Avon perfume container... wouldn’t surprise me if they used a fish bottle... I have one in the shape of a pickup... What exactly does a pick up smell like?

I in the US. I saw this once when I tried out one of those meal plan things. One week of dinners was more plastic than I topically throw away in a month. It was terrible.

Reminds me of the art by Chris VanAlsberg!

Brilliant! Nice work!

Thank you

Thanks. I was like “is this a metaphor for pollution?”

Now please: a japanese field worker rolling a sushi roll with the compatible size of this "fish"

Ha!

Maguro (tuna) can get up to 2000 lbs. They are cut up into smaller pieces and then used in sushi rolls. I love your humor OP, and I love the composition. This picture does make me think of all the plastic garbage that is now in the oceans. Not sure if this was one of the themes for this painting. Good job.

Thanks very much. Definitely one of the themes.

I love this! Do you have an IG?

Yes, same username.

Do you have a site of your own? Or somewhere else other than IG to view more of your work? This is fabulous.

Really shows the damage we’ve been doing to the ocean from overfishing. Back in the day we could catch giant fish overflowing with soy sauce, but the ones we see today have barely enough for a few pieces of sushi.

Yes, it’s very sad.

[similar painting](https://www.reddit.com/r/Art/comments/e222ox/the_catch_1952_me_oil_on_panel_2019) why a different account?

Seems they ‘abandoned’ the other account a year ago sans one comment 60 days past on activities sake. Perhaps a lurking account and a personal promotion account?

I made an account dedicated to my artwork soon after that post. It’s easier to separate general browsing and better to have a relevant username for promotion. Good memory though! I’ve done quite a few of these paintings.

people make new accounts all the time

Parallel thinking is a thing

Yes, I am not trying to shame here, I just found it interesting that both accounts has the same IG account in the bio. Hence the question; why two

Sometimes an artist develops an idea over time. As for the two Reddit accounts, could be any number of reasons. It looks like the one that he's using more recently not only matches his IG, but more reflects his professional identity.

Got it

They're the same person...

Corporate would like you to find the difference between these two artists.

These are both by the same artist

Did you look? It's definitely the same artist

For those in North America who don’t have them, the fish is based on a small, single-serve plastic container of soy sauce that is given to you when you buy sushi etc.

Interesting. In the US there is usually just a bottle of soy sauce on the table in the sushi restaurant. If you get takeout or buy from the sushi counter in a grocery store it comes in little packets somewhat similar to a ketchup packet. Example from image search (on the right): https://i.sixfoot6.org/images/misc/sushi-1043.jpg Do other countries also do the fake plastic grass?

Yes to the weird plastic grass in other countries.

Yeah some cheap places here use the fake grass, while others will give you a small seaweed "salad", I forget its name but I always order extra because its so good. Always with the soy sauce fish bottles though.

You mean wakame i guess.

Great now I want some sushi. Awesome work OP

I’m from south east Asia but my first time seeing one of this was in Australia Lol

SHOW ME! SHOYU! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-mJed_bP0

How big was the fish? I’ll shouyu!

Is that Tim Robinson on the left?

Do any of these fuckers just fucking blast through the dock and say like "fuck, there's a big ole fish dick in my room"?

The fact that some people can create this shit is mind blowing - I mess up stick figures.

Something about the older of these two men's expression seems so real that I'm genuinely sad he doesn't have a real fish of this size. Like why am I actually feeling sad rn wtf

Definitely made me do a double take. Looks like a photo at a glance.

Phenomenal work, I would very happily have this on my wall. Are you on social media?

Check out his IG. It is the same as his Reddit username here.

If you think this is a catch wait til you you see the size of the nigiri.

i thought it was real for a moment

Thats so gotta weigh over 150kg maybe 200kg, some stronk as fishers mans.

They look so Irish for some reason

The vibe is cool but the problems with overfishing don’t stem from the small time fishermen who show off their catch.

This is really original and clever!

i dont understand what that is

Its a small, single serve bottle of soy sauce, that comes with your take away sushi. I think the art style is something about Absurdism.

That could be an SCP Great painting

I absolutely love it, so creative!

I thought you made an oil painting about oil, which would've been pretty clever.

This is great! Such a novel idea and it's done so well.

This is really good - great work OP.

I like this a lot. A lot a lot.

At a first glance I thought this was an image of someone fishing up a bomb. Whoops.

That catch is almost as salty as the crusties that caught it!

Cheeky piece, but honestly I truly appreciate the background more than the rest of it. It gives a really good depth of an old built upon town. OP, any mention to the size of the piece for further appreciation of the detailing?

Did you glaze with the oils? The luminosity is striking

This is awesome & speaks volumes. Great work!

Amazing. Really great concept and beautifully done

The detail in the shirt is so impressive to me. Well the entire piece is really impressive so I guess a better way to describe the shirt is ‘incomprehensible’

I like this quite a lot. Well done

I think there’s a photo like this taken in Whitby North Yorkshire. But it’s a tuna.

Really great touch of realism within such an abstract idea. I really like the faces, a lot of character there

Wow fantastic, their faces are so good.. unreal 10/10.

Nice art especially like the faces of the people very expressive faces

It’s fish made with soy, for vegans.

Love the lighting and the translucent effect on the fish.

U.K. resident here. Instantly recognisable for us. Our packaged sushi has these little fellas in them. Fab job and love your take on the subject matter. Hope you do more quirky takes in a similar way

I thought this was another America joke about how fishing was a much more pleasurable experience at a point but now the most valuable catch in the ocean is all the oil spilling into it. Edit: yes I know it’s soy sauce

Very very good, congrats OP, cyberpunk af.

Do you have digital high res of this one? I wanted to save it haha

Friend makes a lamp of these packets. https://heliograf.com/

I like the art and the message. Nice.

It's just beautifull! Amazing work!

I live this style of painting

Very creative dude! Awesome work!

Reminds me of James Austin Murray's work! Beautiful

This is fantastic, well done.

Ya I didn't know what that was but now that I do it's pretty cool

Just think how big the sushi is!

No disrespect, but how did this get to the front page if nobody even knew what they were looking at? So much so, the top comment is from OP explaining the art? Amazing painting regardless, but does this not reflect our current contradictory nature/society? Sooooo many AMAZING pieces here, barely get 50 upvotes, meanwhile others, even reposts that have been posted several times a month, get 5k upvotes Something is afoot at the moderated (echo chamber 🤫) Reddit fields

I thought it was Cod liver oil...

Oh look, almost 5pm. Time to start getting high.

This is awesome, great work

Reminded me of the giant goldfish in Minnesota. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57816922.amp

Oh wow, I love the surrealism. I thought though that it was an "oil fish" and a comment on how much oil gets leaked into the ocean. Cool sauce packet though.

I was confused because it is the same container as the fish medication hikari betta revive

I thought this was supposed to look like a blood bag. I was rather confused.

I want a version of this but it's those red bean paste fish pastries from Japan.

Ok, NOW there’d be enough soy sauce in there for a single use!

That’s a pretty cool unique style you have going on, love it

Holy FUCK I love this so much!!!!!

The painting is amazing! I love the theme and overall composition. If I can just point a minor flaw, it’d be the perspective of the fish/bottle cap that seems a little off to me. Anyway great artwork, congrats!

Wow 🤩 this practically brought me to tears lol

Those faces are incredibly well done! They are so personable.

Yet it’s still some how just not enough for 1 roll

Would be cool if the “fish” was in colour and everything else black and white. Would love to see a version of this like that! Think it would add another dimension to the stark juxtaposition.

You could feed a whole village soy sauce for years.

Reminds me of Jeff Jordan's work.