It was the money-spinner that made us all wince in Fight Club.
And now one Miami-based artist is following suit – by selling bars of soap made from his own liposuctioned fat.
For $1,000 (£650) you can lather up in a bar of Orestes de la Paz’s own lard, bringing to mind Tyler Durden’s classic line: “We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them!”
The project, which is currently on display at Miami’s Frost Museum, came into being after De La Paz had the cosmetic procedure in December and wanted to make use of the fat before it turned rancid.
De La Paz’s exhibition also features footage of the artist washing himself with his own fat, undergoing liposuction and boiling the fat into a soap.
Making Soap By Orestes De La Paz
And visitors to the display are even invited to wash their hands using the fruits of De La Paz’s labours – an apparently tempting offer for many.
De La Paz told HuffPost Miami: “The museum-goers were so at ease, that the idea of the soap being from human fat escaped their minds and they simply enjoyed the soap for it’s lavender, tea tree scent and the way it left the hands soft after washing.”
He told the Miami New Times: “There’s something about converting the notions about how we approach fat that can sometimes be seen as dirty or repulsive.
"Being able to convert it into something that is cleansing and also potentially healing reflects off the phrase ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness’.”
If you are in the market for one of De La Paz's 20 bars of soap, he tells us: "They are to be collected as art pieces, including a DVD of the video, a certificate of authenticity and a form stating that you'd allow the soap to be pulled from your private collection to be re-exhibited."
