A fascinating and rich group show is now on view at The Nathan Cummings Foundation. Provisions, curated by Meridith McNeal and produced by the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation explores food from an intimate yet global and very 21st-century perspective.The show features 18 contemporary artists, and each work has a complexity and depth that exceeds the theme of "food". Capitalism is implicated in the production and distribution of food, the chasm between abundance and deprivation. But none of these works moralizes; they all work on the viewer through naunced beauty.
I was most gripped by two installation pieces: Flower Eaters, by Claudia Alvarez, is a painfully beautiful sculpture of small children and scattered clay flowers. April Banks' The Price of Rice: Tomorrow I wake Up Hungry is a pile of rice that has been molded into simple bowls, with an image of rice production flickering over the mound. These were haunting, powerful, and richly narrative at the same time that they were aesthetically simple and elegant.
The image here is of a work by Cecile Chong. Several of her pieces were featured in Provisions, and I'm not sure of the technique she uses, but the texture of these paintings reminded me of icing and confection...
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