The Red and Black

Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Billy Renkl, "Plenty" [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Suzanne Proulx, "Potato Eyes" [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Margaret DeLima, "Self-Portrait with Candy Button Dress" [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Jocelyn Coulter, "Fois Gras" [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Suzanne Proulx, "Hatchlings" [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: KRISTIN BOYD Judith Berk King, "Bovine #2298774 Slaughtered May 19th, 2006, Presented for Consumption June 5, 2006;" "Bovine #3950019 Slaughtered April 10, 2007, Presented for Consumption April 24, 2007;" and "Bovine #9230726 Slaughtered June 15, 2007, Presented for Consumption June 20, 2007" [Click to enlarge]

Ah, yes, the age-old philosophical pondering: which came first, the chicken or the orange?

Wait - what?

At "Ingest," the newest exhibition at local gallery ATHICA, many of the artists, including Suzanne Proulx, the creator of the orange bird egg hybrid, tweak the traditional role of food to present a question about our attitudes toward the things we eat.

"Food's kind of an inescapable thing in life," said exhibit curator Beth Sale Jacquet. "It's just really basic to human existence."

"Ingest" has attracted over 30 artists from across the country who have created works revolving around different aspects of food, ranging from production to preparation to emotional response.

"There's that physical connection with food, the emotional connection with food, and then the connection that our interaction with the food we eat, the interaction that has with the environment, the planet," Sale Jacquet said.

Melissa Harshman, Printmaking chair at Lamar Dodd and one of the artists with work at "Ingest," offers a glimpse into the foods of yesteryear and the personal, emotional connection to the things we put in our bodies.

One of her works has roots in her own experiences as a child.

"Aunt Billie's Jello" was partly inspired by Harshman's memories of childhood holidays.

"Every holiday we would go to my grandma's house, and my Aunt Billie would make the three-colored jello, that ribbon salad, which is cherry jello and lime jello and mayonnaise," she said. "If it wasn't there, it wouldn't have been the same."

While Harshman's works are not as politically motivated, many pieces seem to push the envelope and offer new viewpoints on food.

"I think (food and food production) is a very relevant thing for art to address," said Sale Jacquet. The aim of "Ingest," however, is not to point fingers.

"I would like for this show to allow the viewer to engage in a dialogue with the art," she said.

For artists such as Mike Calway-Fagen, the art is more about the critique than the political or social message.

"The work is really just to critique things rather than vehemently put out some opinion," he said.

Calway-Fagen's piece, "Homogenization," a photograph of a ball made of half-and-half containers, is concerned with the "process of removal, lack of individuality," he said.

However, he is aware of the very fine line he is walking when it comes to making a piece that uses humor as a tool to make a point.

ATHICA will hold an opening for "Ingest" on Saturday with food from Farm 255 and Last Resort Grill. They also will host a talk on global warming and food production on Jan. 27 as an extension of the exhibit.

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