In Feast or Famine
Palo Alto Art Center: January 20, 2024 – April 7, 2024
We think about food every day; it is necessary for life and central to our daily routines, commerce, and culture. Throughout history, communities have worked together to forage, hunt, and grow food. In good times and bad, feast or famine, food connects people. It is no wonder that food continues to be a prominent subject in art.
In Feast or Famine explores food as story, symbol, and sustenance; it investigates the intersection of food and art, as well as our human inclination to assemble around food with family and friends. Beyond the dining table, working together with food is essential in every community, from the fields and farms to the marketplace and kitchen.
In the kitchen, for non-artists and artists alike, preparing food is a mode of creativity that almost everyone practices daily. Food might be our first introduction to “making” something with a process, specific materials, and intended outcome, like art. A recipe, menu, or meal can be a medium to open the door to self-expression, shared community, and new cultures.
Bringing together the work of twenty-four artists, In Feast or Famine presents drawings, paintings, printmaking, photography, sculpture, collage, installation, and video. Artists consider our connections with food within the contexts of history and memory; identity and community; and food equity, agriculture, and our environment. From connecting us to our sources of food, to creating awareness about unique cuisines, culinary accoutrements, and customs, artists help us learn about each other, gain appreciation for our differences, and grow closer through our shared nourishment from both food and fine art.
You are invited to partake in this visual feast, and savor the opportunities for cultural interchange, creativity, expression and understanding.
Participating Artists:
Eva Aguila, Abiam Alvarez, Suhas Bhujbal, Christy Chan, Kim Cogan, Reniel Del Rosario, Alonsa Guevara, Liz Hernandez, Colette Fu, Stefanie Herr, Jeanne F. Jalandoni, Narsiso Martinez, William McKee, Thien Pham, Cooper Salmon, Gregg Segal, Leslie Lewis Sigler, Lucy Stark, Kirsten Stolle, Chelsea Wong, Wayne Thiebaud, Connie Zheng
