Pot LuckFood and Art

Bobby Baker, Han Bing, Helen Chadwick,Gayle Chong Kwan, Anya Gallaccio,Antony Gormley, Subodh Gupta, Mona Hatoum, Aaron Head, Lia Anna Hennig, Damien Hirst, Anthony Key, Lucy+Jorge Orta, Rainer Prohaska,Manuel Saiz, Jana Sterbak and Karen Tam

22 May — 19 July 2009

Curated by Cynthia Morrison-Bell and Anthony KeyProduced by Art Circuit Touring Exhibitions

Exhibition guide

Pot Luck brings together 17 internationally acclaimed contemporary artists who explore the continuing relationship between food and art.

Representations of food appear throughout art history; from early depictions in mythological scenes to those found in religious art of all cultures. From the beginning of the 20th century, a number of avant-garde art movements, such as Futurism, Surrealism, Fluxus and Pop Art, have sought to break down the distinction between art and life.

For some artists, food has become the material of art itself and a means to playfully comment on social and cultural matters. For others, it is the organic and ephemeral quality of food that is of interest. Many also feel that art, like food, should be a communal experience to be enjoyed and shared by all.

Pot Luck was conceived as a ‘meal’ where each artist was invited to bring a ‘dish’ (an artwork) to the table. The artists featured come from many countries and are informed by varied cultural and historical backgrounds.

Their works reflect a wide range of cultural flavours and concerns inspired by the subject of food today.

The exhibition includes photography, sculpture, video and site-specific installations.

Gayle Chong Kwan’s photographs (Cockaigne series, 2004), depict a range of mythical landscapes constructed from mountains of chocolate, bread castles, pasta towers and other foods. The series is based on the 14th century myth of the Land of Cockaigne, a fictional glutton’s paradise island where work is forbidden and every human desire is catered for. Her Manipulated Memory Tasting Booth (2006) explores the idea of recollection and communication through sensory memories, in this instance, the taste of Chinese spring rolls.

Anthony Key uses food as ‘the language of the everyday’. His work often focuses on the Chinese Takeaway which he sees as a major influence on British eating and street culture. China Gardens (2007) is a full- size sculpture of a Chinese restaurant made from thousands of flattened tin foil take away cartons. It speaks of invisibility and absence as opposed to the vibrancy and communal aspects of Karen Tam’s Miss Chinatown.

Karen Tam explores how food plays a key role in constructing cultural identities. Her life-sized Chinese-Canadian restaurant Miss Chinatown (2009) has been designed to investigate the representation of China and Chinese culture in Western society. Our experience of dining in restaurants and experiencing food from other parts of the world is the one of the ways in which our ideas about other cultures are formed.

The emergence of a new, ‘modern’ China is reflected in Han Bing’s performance films and photographs, titled Walking the Cabbage (2000 –2008). A full stock of cabbage for the winter was once a symbol of material wellbeing. Nowadays, the humble cabbage has been replaced by the pampered pedigree pet.

Subodh Gupta is inspired by the rapid changes that are taking place in contemporary India. He often uses ordinary, domestic objects to highlight the deprivation of India’s underclass in contrast to the accelerating wealth of the rising middle class. His sculpture Cheap Rice (2006) refers to the thousands of rickshaw drivers selling cheap food in Indian cities today. Aaron Head’s home town of Bedford is often the starting point for his work. Fallen from the Back (2008), is a half scale model of a Bedford van made of cardboard and recycled

food crates, sourced from Bedford’s fruit & vegetable markets. The van references the ornately decorated and augmented vans and trucks that are found in Pakistan for goods’ transportation. The title Fallen from the Back suggests the notion that something is stolen or received accidently. In All Things Being Equal (2008), a carefully balanced brick layer’s ‘hod’ supports a number of bricks. The bricks are made out of a Victoria sponge cake recipe – a cake made in equal parts of eggs sugar flour, butter. They touch on the idea of Britain being ‘built’ in equal parts from the results of its colonial past.

Jana Sterbak’s Cake Stool (1996) is also made from sponge cake. It is an absurd and playful work where the cushion of the stool has been replaced by a cake. No longer able to fulfil its main function, the stool takes on the role of a cake stand.

Absurdity is found again in Lia Anna Hennig’s Salamirain (2009), a rain cloud of 530 salamis of different shapes and sizes. In her drawings, videos and performances Hennig tackles the subject of food, from its preparation to the process of consumption in often hilarious and provoking ways. Salamirain is Hennig’s first installation piece and was made specifically for this exhibition.

Seduction and revulsion are often contradictory sensations that we

feel around food. This experience is explored in Helen Chadwick’s Cacao (1994), a 3-metre in diameter bubbling, chocolate fountain. At first we may feel drawn and taken in by the lusciousness of the brown chocolate, only to be put off by its subsequent sickly smell.

Bread and wine have Christian connotations, symbolising the body and the blood of Christ that Jesus offered his disciples at the last supper. Parallels to religion are evoked in Damien Hirst’s The Last Supper (1999), a series of 13 lithographs mimicking pharmaceutical products. Each tablet-form meal suggests nutrition for the body and the spirit, coupled with notions of decay and ultimately death.

Elsewhere, Antony Gormley’s Bread Line (1994) alludes both to the cold reality of economic divides and to the fictitious forest trail left by Hansel & Gretel.

Anya Gallaccio has used the products of the earth – fruit and soil – to produce Motherlode (2005-2007), a limited edition of six Zinfandel wines.The wines act as a portrait of Sonoma County, California, where the artist was invited to make a site-specific work.

The strong minimalist style of the above works is also

found in Mona Hatoum’s Grater Divide (2002), which, like many of her large scale sculptures, transforms familiar, every-day domestic objects into something foreign, threatening and dangerous. In all of her work, Hatoum introduces a disruptive element, either physical or psychological, that makes us question our surroundings.

Rainer Prohaska’s The Food Derivation Containers (2008), are the remains of his cooking performances Restaurant Transformable. By preserving perishable food in alcohol and presenting them in glass jars, the artist transforms elements from the performance into fine art sculptural objects. They are turned into minimalist-like saleable objects, bringing together the idea that both art and food are made for consumption.

The domestic daily chore of cooking and food preparation is presented by Bobby Baker in her numerous performances Bobby Baker’s Daily Life. A selection of her past performances are being shown on video in the foyer area. Bobby Baker has, amongst other things, danced with meringue ladies, made a life-sized edible and tasty cake version of her family to be eaten by visitors, opened her kitchen to the public and baked biscuits of The New Art Gallery Walsall staff.

An important part of Lucy+ Jorge Orta’s collaborative work has focused on food and the problems associated with food consumption, distribution and waste. Mexican Kitchen (1997-2008) is an actual recycled Mexican kitchen, equipped with cooking utensils, a hot plate and storage boxes. It is part of the artists’ Hortirecycling series, used to collect discarded fruits and vegetables from local markets, and to cook and prepare communal meals.

Manuel Saiz beautifully crafted films document experiences of urban life. In his video Parallel Paradise (2007), the camera follows the curious interaction of a llama in a supermarket. As the llama gazes at a codified landscape he does not understand, we are left to question what is necessary and what is surplus in contemporary consumer society.

Pot Luck: Food and Art is funded by Arts Council England with support from Canada House Arts Trust.

Bobby BakerBorn 1950, UK. Lives in UKHan BingBorn 1974, China. Lives in ChinaHelen Chadwick1953 – 1996, UKGayle Chong KwanBorn 1973, UK. Lives in UKAntony GormleyBorn 1951, UK. Lives in UKSubodh GuptaBorn 1964, India. Lives in IndiaMona HatoumBorn 1952, Lebanon.Lives in UK and GermanyAaron HeadBorn 1983, UK. Lives in UKLia Anna HennigBorn 1981, Germany. Lives in LondonDamien Hirst Born 1965, UK. Lives in UKAnthony KeyBorn 1949, South Africa.Lives in LondonLucy + Jorge OrtaLucy Orta born 1996, UK;Jorge Orta born 1953, Argentina. Both live in ParisRainer ProhaskaBorn 1966, Austria. Lives in Vienna Manuel SaizBorn 1961, Spain. Lives in UKJana SterbakBorn 1955, Czech Republic.Lives in Canada and SpainKaren TamBorn 1977, Canada.Lives in Canada and UK

The New Art Gallery WalsallGallery Square Walsall WS2 8LG

01922 654400thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk

Events

In ConversationCynthia Morrison-Bell and Anthony KeySaturday 13 June 2009, 2pm

Join Pot Luck Curators Cynthia Morrison-Bell and Anthony Key for a tour of the exhibition.

Gayle Chong KwanSaturday 20 June 2009, 2pm

Exhibiting artist Gayle Chong Kwan will be talking about her work and opening the doors to her Manipulated Memory Tasting Booth.

Please reserve your free place in advanceby calling 01922 654400.

Food Glorious Food! Thursday 4 June, 6pm-9pm

A free late night event with performance artists ‘playing’ with food and inviting you to participate, taste and experience glorious food throughout the gallery. Free, no need to book.

Publication

A fully illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition. It is available to purchase at reception.

Resources

Further information about the exhibiting artists can be found in the resource area located in the foyer. Resources include an interview with Pot Luck curators Cynthia Morrison-Bell and Anthony Key, filmed during the installation of the exhibition.