Art that Eats

Driven by a palpable sense of absence around the dining table, Marianne McGrath sought to satiate her longing for communion through art. In the Palo Alto Art Center’s latest exhibition, “In Feast or Famine,” the curator commemorates the nourishing power of both food and art through an eclectic range of existing and bespoke pieces from artists across the country. “In the kitchen, for non-artists and artists alike, preparing food is a mode of creativity that almost everyone practices daily,” McGrath tells Family Style. “Food might be our first introduction to ‘making’ something… A recipe, menu, or meal can be a medium to open the door to self-expression, shared community, and new cultures.” McGrath, who worked as a curator for the New Museum Los Gatos before she founded MKM Art Consulting in 2018, has always been enamored with the culinary and its ability to bring people together. “Artists consider our connections with food within the contexts of history and memory; identity and community; and food equity, agriculture, and our environment,” she adds.

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The exhibition is on view until Apr 7, 2024, and features the works of 24 artists from a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, collage, installation, and video. One work created specifically for the exhibition is Filipino artist Reniel Del Rosario’s Food Pyramid, 2023. The six-foot-high sculpture, consisting of an askew triangular board fixed on the side of a lumber square backing, reimagines early American food pyramids as well as the nation’s flawed history regarding nutrition and art. Atop the crackled triangular board sits ceramic slabs of various sizes, which are drilled into wooden armatures and intentionally arranged in a non-linear fashion, mimicking foods such as bread, poultry, and dairy products to depict Western food and art propaganda. 

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Other featured works include Colette Fu’s Uyghur Food, 2019, which showcases the ethnic food of China’s Xinjiang Province through an archival inkjet pop-up book; Narsiso Martinez’s Hollywood & Vine, 2022, where a charcoal drawing of a farmworker stretches across used produce boxes; and Cooper Salmon’s b. patiserie, 2022, which pays homage to the iconic San Francisco bakery through figurative painting. McGrath hopes that visitors of the exhibition will not only appreciate the talent and skill of the artists featured, but also cultivate a deep admiration for the people who grow, harvest, transport, and prepare our food. It is with their lives and labor in mind that “In Feast or Famine” honors their legacy.

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“In Feast or Famine,” is on view through April 7, 2024 at the Palo Alto Art Center at 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94306.