eating wonderland

if you're in richmond, or plan to be in the next few months, don't miss this show at the university of richmond museum:

"The Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, presents Eating Wonderland: Recent Work by Sue Johnson, on view February 8 through June 15, 2008.

In her latest artwork, contemporary Maryland artist Sue Johnson (American, born 1957) addresses themes of food, consumption, marketing, and mass production in her ceramic castings of dinnerware and popular foodstuffs. Along with her paintings on paper and digital collages, this exhibition features work that explores the creation and use of imagery in popular culture, the influence of context on these images, and how simple manipulations can result in humor, aversion, and complex commentaries on contemporary society."

"Incredible Edibles, which consists of ceramic castings of objects imbued with nostalgia and commercialism related to eating, such as TV-dinner trays and figurines of characters from advertising like the Pillsbury Doughboy and Sprout, the young companion to the Jolly Green Giant, is the first series.

Accompanying series Episodes in a Fantastic Landscape, comprised of mixed media two- dimensional images, likewise focuses on issues of food and consumption and includes fantasy elements, and a sense of impending violence or doom lurks within each piece. Finally, her over 16-foot wide painting New Stories from Wonderland (Life of the Dodo), created specifically for this exhibition, merges all of these themes while including specific references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and commentary on the environment."

we find her work so clever and very much at the heart of openhouse commentary. enjoy! k&m