Feasting on Art

The artists for the upcoming exhibition Sugar, Sugar have now been finalised and the show will feature ten female artists working with sugar as their medium. The artists include Matina Bourmas, Irianna Kanellopoulou, Judith Klausner, Stephanie Jones, Claire McArdle, Shelley Miller, Mylyn Nguyen, Janet Tavener, Claire Anna Watson and Elizabeth Willing. Works range from carefully carved cameos out of Oreo cookies by Judith Klausner to Shelley Miller’s sugar street art that will be installed on the 2 Danks Street building.

Progress on the catalogue is well underway with essays by myself, Olivia Welch and Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch. The catalogues will be available for purchase during the exhibition. For further information and media queries, please contact Brenda May Gallery.

Sugar, Sugar | 1 to 19 October 2013 | Brenda May Gallery, Sydney

I am pleased to announce that I will be curating a second art + food exhibition in October at Brenda May Gallery. We are now accepting proposals from professional practicing artists so please read the exhibition brief below and contact the Gallery with any questions or visit the submissions page for further details. In conjunction with the exhibition, I will be producing a 20-page catalogue illustrating the artworks selected for the show as well as a short essay.

‘Sugar, Sugar’ – 1 to 19 October 2013

As a species, we are predisposed to seek out sugar to supplement our diet. “Sweet tooth” and “sugar rush” are colloquial phrases used to describe our bodies’ cravings for and reaction to the substance. Our inclination to seek out the sweet stuff speaks to the pervasiveness of sugar in the visual arts. This exhibition will feature contemporary art made exclusively with sugar.

Proposals for this show must be received by Friday 5 April 2013.

The new series of drawings by Al Munro examining the arrangement of atoms within common foodstuffs including salt, sugar and vinegar, are featured in the current exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney. In her artist statement, Munro writes “I am interesting in using drawing-based media to examine processes of inscription and translation in relation to scientific representations of the natural world. The work in this exhibition stems from research in crystallographic image collections in Australia and the UK. Crystallography is the field of science which studies and maps the arrangement of atoms within a solid. My attraction to crystallographic diagrams has been due to their translation of the natural world into the visual and mathematical language of geometry and pattern; the endlessly repeating grids of complex symmetries which map the molecular structure of all organic and inorganic matter hold an endless fascination for me.”

Al Munro, Salt Diffraction, 2012
pencil and pigment marker on paper, 35 x 35cm, Courtesy the Artist and Brenda May Gallery

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The curated group exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney, considers the representation of food within the visual arts and beyond the standard still life tableaux. The consumption of food is a universally shared experience, enabling people viewing the exhibition to connect with the issues surrounding consumerism, food production and cultural identity.

Some of the highlights include a large installation of biscuit tins amassed by the artist Christine Turner over a 15-year period as well as an installation by Sue Saxon + Jane Becker of hundreds of fragile eggshells on strands of lights. The show also includes a number of photographs featuring melting ice sculptures by Janet Tavener, the colourful remnants of meals by Vin Ryan and both a colourful and melting ice block by Will Nolan. A sculpture composed of Murray River salt by Ken + Julia Yonetani will be offset by the artistic rendering of salt diffraction by Al Munro. The only traditional still life painting in the exhibition is by Michael Edwards who paints cement fruit which makes for a perfect pairing with the actual cast cement hamburgers by Will Coles.

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The 2.5 x 2.5 metre biscuit tin installation by Christine Turner is featured in the current curated exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney. According to Turner, ”I have found that biscuit tins require a simple configuration when presented in artworks. Each tin provides a great deal of information of its own. Information about societal customs, the economy, consumerism and much more.” Most people, when viewing the work, circle the parameter recognising tins from their own mother’s and grandmother’s kitchens. The installation draws on people’s nostalgia for familiar things and a certain time or place. The recipe below, provided by the artist, is for an Anzac biscuit, a hard cookie made of rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup. Because of their long shelf-life, the cookies were often sent by the wives of soldiers to the men overseas; hence their name (ANZAC – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).

Christine Turner, Lifescape, 2012, mixed media – biscuit tins,
250 x 250cm (dimensions variable), Courtesy the Artist and Brenda May Gallery, Sydney

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