The University of 蜜柚直播 Museum of Art is reopening Sunday with an exhibit that explores a topic every person can relate to: food.
鈥淭he Art of Food,鈥 which will remain open through March of next year, features 109 works of art by a wide variety of post-World War II artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Damien Hirst.
It鈥檚 the largest exhibit the museum (1031 N. Olive Road at East Speedway), which shut down in-person operations when the pandemic started in March 2020, has ever hosted. Each piece engages the theme of food 鈥 how we make it, how we consume it, and how it shapes society 鈥 in some way.
In one of the white-walled exhibit rooms, a plaster and enamel sculpture of an indented stick of butter called 鈥淏utterscape鈥 by Malia Jensen sits in a glass vitrine. Onlookers are invited to consider its imperfections and the role of butter beyond its mundane purpose as a kitchen staple. On the other side of the room hangs a gelatin silver print called 鈥淐-Ration鈥 by Lorna Simpson, which underscores food鈥檚 place in America鈥檚 history of racism. The words 鈥渘ot good enough鈥 are printed on a picture of a paper dinner plate; Right next to it is a picture of a Black woman鈥檚 chest stamped with the words 鈥渂ut good enough to serve.鈥
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鈥淎ll of the artists in this show are artists of our time. The themes in this exhibition are all themes of our (living) generations,鈥 said Jordan D. Schnitzer, a real estate investor, philanthropist and prolific art collector who loaned the museum all of the pieces used in the exhibit. Simpson鈥檚 piece, for example, 鈥渟ums up the hypocrisy, white supremacy and racial issues we have in this country,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou could write a 20,000-word essay about that, and nothing says it better than that piece.鈥
Schnitzer, who first started collecting art as a teenager growing up in Portland, Oregon, now has 19,000 pieces of art in his collection. In his view, nature and art are the only reprieves humans have from the chaos of the modern world.
A few years ago, while he was visiting 蜜柚直播 for business, Schnitzer met with the staff of the UA鈥檚 art museum and he and his Family Foundation offered to loan some of his artwork, free of charge, for an exhibit.
Olivia Miller, who curated 鈥淭he Art of Food,鈥 took him up on the offer. In 2018, she traveled to Portland to take a look at Schnitzer鈥檚 collection and gather inspiration.
鈥淭he theme of food just kept coming back to me. There were hundreds of works depicting food. We could do this show two more times and still not repeat any of the artwork from his collection,鈥 Miller said.
She settled on that theme for several reasons, not the least of which are 蜜柚直播鈥檚 designation as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, the UA鈥檚 involvement in cutting-edge food science research and the in 蜜柚直播.
Moreover, as a university art museum, 鈥渆very exhibition we approach we really strive to do it with the goal that as many people as possible from across campus will come see it,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淲e try to have exhibitions that give us the chance to do interdisciplinary programming, and give us the chance to engage with faculty and staff from different departments. And food is such a ubiquitous topic that it was kind of the perfect subject to do that.鈥
Visitors will also notice QR codes labeled 鈥渃ommunity food stories鈥 attached to some of the informational panels. Scanning the code with a smartphone reveals another, local dimension to the exhibit.
鈥淲e knew the collection coming from Jordan in Oregon would not have a direct connection to 蜜柚直播, so as educators we wanted to make that direct connection,鈥 Chelsea Farrar, curator of community engagement, said.
In preparation for the opening, which was delayed by one year because of the pandemic, museum staff reached out to people with a known connection to food, including food writers, educators and food bank workers. More than a dozen 蜜柚直播ans were asked to pick one of the pieces in the exhibit that resonated with them and write an essay, poem, recipe or other response.
鈥淚t was really personal and diverse,鈥 said Farrar, who added that some of the community responses illustrated the broad range of emotional connections people have with food. 鈥淭he only people who responded through recipes were people directly involved in service, either working with K-12 students or community food banks. You think of disparity as their work, but really they love food and they see it as a place of healing.鈥
Kathryn Palmer covers higher education for the 蜜柚直播. Contact her via e-mail at kpalmer@tucson.com or phone at 520-341-7901.