Anatomy of An Exhibit, Part III: Making Sense of It

It's installation week for the Feasting Eyes exhibit. Our gallery space is challenging because it's a former residence and that means grouping works into some semblance of relationship and meaning. Curator Jerry Mead mulled over the possibilities and came up with a placement that has cohesiveness. As you enter the main doors, you're immediately confronted by a talking refrigerator that houses a video inside, two oversized paintings featuring Skittles packages and a trio of plastic containers on a pedestal. What connects them is the theme of packaging and what we know (and don't know) about what's in food. Step into the Living Room and the works are more recognizable--food in it's natural state, sans processing and additives. The Dining Room--the place next to the kitchen most associated with the ritual of eating--features traditional still lifes deftly and intricately painted by three local artists who, by anyone's estimation, are masters of the technique--John Yerger, Thomas Kegler and Coni Mennici. Here, food is glorified, even metaphorical. If you visit on Friday night when the exhibit opens, you'll spend a lot of time here as it's also where the food and wine are served.

The exhibit continues on the second floor where your first sight as you come up the winding staircase is of a larger-than-life photo of bacon slices by Courtney Grim. This space is given over to photographic imagery in which the artists play with scale, color and materials, using food as a subject. Take a left into the first of three bedrooms where you'll find another collection of photos that capture food's natural life cycle from farm to edible product to decay. Mixed media and assemblages are just across the hall, and are characterized by a sense of whimsy and a little ecopolitics. Finally, the last room holds some of the most thought-provoking pieces--a dining table of mixed parts and pieces, stark photos of fruit bearing the scars of surgical alteration, humorous takes on the ubiquitous take-out container, and another video focusing on what people eat.

Truly a buffet of visual intrigue.....come and see it! Feasting Eyes is on through October 5th.