Press

Tasty

Gallery Exhibition

Artists with Developmental Disabilities at San Francisco’s Creativity Explored Serve Up a Tantalizing Smorgasbord of Art Inspired by Food

August 14 – October 1, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 14 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

Come and get it! This summer, you can satisfy your craving for art for the kitchen and home with a new exhibition and sale of works dedicated to food, glorious food, entitled “Tasty” at San Francisco’s Creativity Explored. It’s an ‘All U Can Buy’ buffet of original drawings, paintings and sculptures that feature a mouth-watering array of incredible edibles from dancing radishes to the mid-century modern joys of Jell-O. “Tasty” opens with a reception featuring live music on Thursday, August 14 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. and continues through October 1. All artwork may be purchased at the Creativity Explored Gallery, open Monday through Friday, 10:00 am. to 3:00 pm., Thursday until 7:00 pm. and Saturday from 1:00 to 6:00 pm.

“Everybody likes to eat,” says curator and Creativity Explored instructor Judith La Rosa. “And the artists around here have some big appetites, so they just jumped on this subject. Plus, they discovered that when you really start looking at food, you see some amazing layers of color, patterns, and textures. The show is just so incredibly vibrant.”

A stand out among the radiant work on display is the vast collection of desserts by long time Creativity Explored artist Camille Holvoet. Holvoet, whose passion for pastries has been a life long inspiration, contributes a series of luminescent oil pastels of cupcakes and cakes, as well as an array of frosty beverages like root beer floats and an elaborate ‘cut glass’ Jell-O salad in a cocktail glass.

Text-based artist John Patrick McKenzie also sticks to sweets with an ode to pies scrawled over Neopolitan ice cream-striped wallpaper, while Yolanda Ramirez focuses on healthier treats like slices of fruit.

Meat was much on the mind of the artists working on the show as well. Kevin Roach contributes a not-so-traditional butchering chart for pork. One of the cuts he cites is the ‘Picnic Shoulder’. The snout is labeled as ‘Oink (canned)’. Valerie Jenkins’ shrimp drawing is also something of a chart covered in dozens of delicate drawings of the popular crustaceans next to which she has jotted words like ‘pink’ and ‘eyeballs’. Peter Cordova, who also works part time as a bagger at Safeway, used that store’s coupon mailer to find images for his collaged papier mache ‘meat’ bowl.

It’s not just the things we eat, but the places we go to buy a meal that get attention in the show. James Miles pays homage to the beloved and highly anticipated snack truck that pulls up in front of the gallery every day at 10:45 a.m., and also contributes an elaborate line drawing of a food mall presided over by a giant chicken with an oversized burger for a table. Valerie Long creates a fascinating map-like portrait of a Mission district helado cart, and Gordon Chin whips up a series of restaurant signs: “Pop’s Greasy Spoon – It ain’t healthy but it sure tastes good!”, and a list of daily home cooked specials including “pasgetti” and “hot cake”.

And if all the “Tasty” art just makes you too hungry, San Francisco’s Recchiuti Confections has got just the thing for you — a new Artisan series of chocolate gift boxes including 8 pieces of Recchiuti’s signature Burnt Caramel Chocolate topped with colorful and whimsical designs of birds and botanicals created by four Creativity Explored studio artists: Eric Boysaw, Merna Lum, Maribel Guzman, and Sara O’Sullivan. $2 of each sale goes to Creativity Explored. This special series of boxed chocolates can be purchased online at www.recchiuti.com, by phone at 1.800.500.3396, or by visiting Recchiuti Confection’s store in the Ferry Building downtown San Francisco.

So, whether you snack on it or hang it on the wall, Creativity Explored’s “Tasty” art is what’s cooking this summer!

Tasty

GROUP EXHIBITION AND OPENING: a tantalizing smorgasbord of art inspired by food

When

• Opening Reception – Thursday, August 14, 2008 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
• Exhibit Dates and Times – August 14 through October 1, 2008, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Thursday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Where

Creativity Explored Gallery, 3245 Sixteenth St. at Guerrero, San Francisco

Information

(415) 863-2108
www.creativityexplored.org

Cost

FREE

Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.

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Press Contacts

Nina Sazevich: (415) 752-2483
Amy Taub: (415) 863-2108

# Posted on July 11, 2008