Acquired Taste: Food and the Art of Consumption

The exhibition features twelve established and emerging contemporary artists whose work focuses on our reciprocal relationship to food: what we consume, how we consume it and how it consumes us. In recent years, the culinary arts have seen a rise in popularity through cable television cooking shows; increased public awareness of food politics; and the explosion of impassioned food movements such slow food, pop-up restaurants and gourmet food trucks. In Acquired Taste, visual artists use a variety of mediums to address the underlying issues surrounding food and consumption: Greg Stewart?s living sculptures and ?Moveable Gardens? envision sustainable agriculture as both utopic and democratic; Jennifer Rubell?s playful, participatory work uses food as a vehicle for social interaction; and Dustin Wayne Harris?s ?Cake Mixx? photographs offer a humorous, narrative take on first encounters. Artwork in the exhibition ranges from site-specific installations to sculpture and oil paintings. In addition, curators Alyssa Cordova and Heather Richards are collaborating with local food enthusiasts to offer exciting programming and events: cooking demonstrations by chef Jonathan Dye; KCRW Good Food contributor Delilah Snell?s ?Jam Van? of preserves and other goodies; lectures by featured artist-in-residence Greg Stewart, and more! Artists include: Sita Bhaumik, Shannon Faseler, Dustin Wayne Harris, Pamela Johnson, Jennifer Knox, MyersBerg Studios, Mary Parisi, Justin Perricone, Victoria Reynolds, Jennifer Rubell, Stephen Shanabrook, Greg Stewart and Tattfoo Tan. Accompanying Acquired Taste: Food and the Art of Consumption is a full-color exhibition catalog of artwork and essays slated to be published October/November 2011. Essayists include freelance writer and blogger Nicole Caruth (Contemporary Confections); art historian and blogger Megan Fizell (Feasting on Art); and Pulitzer prize-winning writer Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly, KCRW?s Good Food).