Show examines Grub beyond body fuel need

PORTLAND, OR (PNAN) – Closing on Saturday, December, 3, 2022, The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation is an exhibition at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University. Organized thematically, it uses an artistic lens to examine the subject of food beyond its purpose as body fuel.

In its most everyday sense, food is a physical necessity, yet its overall significance goes far beyond sustenance. Food is integral to our communities, relationships, cultures, and languages. People interact with food on varying levels. Some of us grow or gather it; more of us buy it. We transform it by cutting, cooking, and dressing it with spices, marinades, and garnishes. We use food as an intermediary to connect with others through holiday meals, business lunches, dates, and more.

“Fruit with Rainbow” 2006, oil on canvas, 40 1/4 x 60 1/4 inches, Sherrie Wolf, American (b.1952). Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. Image: Aaron Wessling Photography©Sherrie Wolf. Courtesy Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR.

More than 100 works in a variety of media, The Art of Food showcases how some of the most prominent artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have considered this universal subject. Featured Artists are: Katherine Ace, Neal Ambrose-Smith, Chris Antemann, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Emily Brock, Enrique Chagoya, Corwin Clairmont, Warrington Colescott, Robert Cottingham, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Richard Estes, David Gilhooly, Robert Gober, Red Grooms, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Malia Jensen, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Hung Liu, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Alison Saar, Analia Saban, Jonathan Seliger, Lorna Simpson, Donald Sultan, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, Rachel Whiteread, and Sherrie Wolf.

Our food choices also carry ethical implications. What we eat affects and is affected by an intricate global food chain. We fight over food. We deny food to some as a tool of suppression and cultural erasure. We fear for our health, the challenge of feeding a growing global population, and the effects of climate change on food production.

For more online views of the artist’s works, open the link at the top of the article.

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