“Palate”: International Artists Explore the Idea of Food as Muse and Medium

Opening Reception May 22, 2010, 7-10 p.m.
On view May 22 Through June 12, 2010

If cooking is an art form, then food is the most common medium of artistic expression in the world. Opening May 22, Scion’s Installation L.A. Gallery presents “Palate,” a group exhibition of internationally lauded artists in which food takes its rightful place inside the gallery.

Curated by Zio Fulcher, “Palate” features new works and installations by Clare Crespo, Jeph Gurecka, Scott Hove, Tamara Kostianovsky, Alan Macdonald, James Reynolds, Martha Rich and Jeff Vespa at Scion’s 4,500-square foot Installation Space in Culver City.

“Palate,” which means the sense of taste, but also references an artist’s palette, will showcase a wide array of food-related art from Martha Rich’s feminine, cake-laden illustrations to Alan Macdonald’s classically rendered paintings of pilgrims that feature the unlikely additions of grocery bags, baked beans and chips. “Palate” will also include James Reynolds’ series of photographs documenting Death Row inmates’ last meal requests, as well as Jeff Vespa’s giant Polaroids of fast food burgers. Scott Hove’s monstrous cake sculptures will be on display, as will Tamara Kostianovsky’s realistic sculptures of slabs of meat, which she makes with articles of clothing. Clare Crespo will crochet a smorgasbord of fun foods, and Jeph Gurecka will build an installation out of bread he bakes himself that explores the idea of food as sustenance.

The show will also include a large exhibit of retro candy wrappers, courtesy of Darlene Lacey of the Candy Wrapper Museum, a vintage cookbook library, and a wall of vibrantly colored hard-to-find sodas.

The opening reception takes place on May 22, 7 – 10 p.m. at the Scion Installation Space, 3521 Helms Ave. (at National), Culver City, CA 90232. The reception is free with complimentary valet parking and an open bar. All artists will be present, and available for interview. A number of local chefs will also be in attendance.

On opening night, there will be a raffle to win a free cooking class from EATZ. Located in Los Angeles, EATZ offers extremely personal cooking classes in a fun dinner party environment.

The exhibit will run until June 12.

About the Artists
Clare Crespo wrote the popular and wildly creative cookbook/art books The Secret Life of Food and Hey There, Cupcake. Both books received enthusiastically positive reviews in magazines such as Vanity Fair, Food and Wine, Life Magazine, Newsweek and The New York Times, among others. The books’ success led to appearances on programs such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Food Network’s Extreme Cuisine and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Crespo recently completed a set of children’s DVDs called The Yummyfun Kooking Series.

Jeph Gurecka has exhibited worldwide, and his work is in numerous international collections. Gurecka has been awarded many fellowships and residencies, including The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and the FUTURA Projects’ residency in the Czech Republic.

Scott Hove is a self-taught artist from the Bay Area. His work encompasses a broad variety of media, from sculptural installations to painting. These works reflect on the relationship between the natural world and mechanical civilization, and the drama that occurs during this interaction.

Tamara Kostianovsky was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was awarded grants from NYFA, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and was a finalist for the Pew Fellowships in the Arts. Solo exhibitions include Black and White Gallery, The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, and El Centro Cultural J.L. Borges. Her work recently appeared on the cover of the journal of food and culture, Gastronomica.

Darlene Lacey started collecting candy wrappers 33 years ago. She has since founded the Candy Wrapper Museum, an extensive archive of candy wrappers and related ephemera that has been featured on the Food Network’s Unwrapped. Lacey maintains the website candywrappermuseum.com.

Alan Macdonald was born in Malawi, Central Africa, and currently lives and works in Scotland. He has exhibited around the world, and his paintings are in public, private and corporate collections worldwide, including EMI, Kayley Hong Kong and WorldCom.

James Reynolds is a London-based artist specializing in graphic design, advertising and photography. His work will appear in the upcoming book Urban Interventions, and he is due to exhibit at a human rights exhibition for Amnesty International.

Martha Rich’s work has been shown in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, San Francisco, Portland and Chicago. She is currently studying for an MFA in painting at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Vespa is an artist, celebrity photographer and co-founder and executive vice president of the global digital photographic agency, WireImage. In April 2009, he was named the editor-at-large of the new incarnation of LIFE Magazine, LIFE.com. Vespa’s photos appear regularly in publications including Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, Newsweek, People, GQ and the Wall Street Journal.

About the Curator
Zio Fulcher is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor, art and culture specialist and gastronome. Zio served as managing editor of Swindle magazine, the definitive pop culture publication co-founded by Shepard Fairey, and has contributed to numerous books including Saber: Mad Society, Juxtapoz: Illustration and Juxtapoz: Poster Art, as well as the upcoming book The History of American Graffiti.

More information on this exhibition is available at www.scion.com/space.