Whipped Up!

Curated by Diane Bush

Artists:
Steve Baskin
Jorge Catoni
Randi Chaplin
Cybele
Aasta Deth
Mary Lou Evans
Janet Greek
Marilyn Hammer
Carrianne Hendrickson
Brian Henry
Kalena Patton
Felice Koenig
Darius Kuzmickas
Wendy Kveck
Anne Mulford (Princess Anne)
Martin Parr
Paul Trevor
Jeanne Voltura
Michael Wardle

Reviewed by Mark Diederichsen

The exhibit Whipped Up! delivered a frenzy of delicious imagery, to the delight of gallery visitors throughout February, and explored an array of concepts involving juxtapositions of eroticism and food. Curated by Diane Bush, the show featured nineteen artists, not only from Nevada but also from as far away as New York, Spain, Chile and the UK. From such a vast pool of talent there was plenty of risqué fare on display to satisfy the most ravenous sexual appetite, and the wide range of media employed helped fortify the diverse menu of issues the artists chose to devour.

Some types of food obviously exude erotic connotations just by their very nature, such as sensuous phallus- or vulva-shaped fruits and vegetables, or foods with names that pose a double entendre. Many homonyms were employed in the titles of works in the show, such as the hilariously iconic photo of a can of "Spotted Dick", by Steve Baskin. Michael Wardle presents a virtual orgy of rich colors in his large acrylic abstract appropriately titled "Meat Me Later", as does Felice Koenig and her triptych of three squares covered with titillating dabs of glossy chromatic color, called "Sweet Cakes".

The salacious shapes of foods were explicitly demonstrated in Cybele's "Melon Ballers" diptych, with a corncob and zucchini penetrating the succulent center portion of sliced cantaloupes. Jorge Catoni's "Gobble Up" featured images of molded "adult" chocolate confections, photographically posterized in black on red, surrounding an image of a hand-painted taqueria menu sign, forming a pop art ensemble. Martin Parr (as a member of Magnum Photo, perhaps the most high-profile artist in the group) showed us effeminate smiling cupcakes in his "Gotta Have Some!" photo. Jeanne Voltera's cross-stitched "Man's Best Friend Sampler" made an interesting comparison about the ages-old preference for length or diameter. Also, Darius Kuzmickas' "24 Hour Fitness" triptych equated the caloric consumption from a session of coitus with the total nutritional value of a phallus-shaped carrot.

A recurring theme in the oeuvre of Kalena Patten is the image of paper cutout-dolls, another pop icon, and this show was graced with a free-standing, 72-inch tall one of a girl posed in a slightly skewed perspective, wearing only a slip, and presumably waiting to be draped with a fashionable cutout dress. Or, perhaps, in a deeper interpretation, it portrays the female form as partially disrobed by the male gaze, hence the title "Man Made". The concept of the gaze, of course, has been used throughout art history, usually in the mode of the male gaze upon the female nude. But several works in the show put a twist on the concept. Darius Kuzmickas took it to the extreme with his "Food Made Sexy", featuring copulating cattle voyeuristically gazed at through the cross hairs of a rifle sight. Paul Trevor's tenebristically lit photograph "Hen Nite" demonstrated the female gaze, with a woman ogling a fake phallus in her left hand in the foreground, whilst grasping a sinuously curved bottle of booze with her other hand in the background.

Carriane Hendrickson's complex ceramic piece, "Convincing Mrs. Quigley: A piggy Bank for Naughty Thoughts" also featured the female gaze, with one of the two female figures fondly observing, and seemingly eager to assist the other female figure in satisfying her kinky indulgences. But more over, in a semiotic interpretation, this piece takes us into the realm of feminist issues. Scattered about the display are ubiquitous phallic shaped foods, whips and dongs, and even a set of playboy bunny ears enforcing the stereotype of the female as sex object. But even beyond that, the inclusion of a piggy bank slot in the top of the comfortably upholstered chair expresses an investment and confidence in the female condition.

The other two ceramic pieces in the show, both by Anne Mulford (Princess Anne), also explored feminist topics. "Forbidden Fruit" was an allegory of the chastity mystique, portrayed by a female torso from the waist down wearing conservative white briefs above which sat an upside down, royal blue glazed, shield-shaped chamber with a large fleur de lis cutout within which stood the virgin and child in a gilded interior, while branches of cherry blossoms and peaches adorned the exterior. The other ceramic work by Mulford, "In the Realm of the Senses", was a wall plaque in a V shape with formed wings on the sides, a large decal of a trout across the top, and flowing down the surface were more decals of pears, flowers and the Virgin Mary, climaxing in a sculpted vagina dentata at the apex of the wings, with teeth and a tongue sticking out of it, revealing the male fear of female aggression.

Randi Chaplin had seven works in the show, more than any other artist. The four small acrylics on round canvas and four larger drawings on paper dealt with nourishment, pacification and cherishing. Craving and lust were the topics of works by Aasta Deth and Mary Lou Evans, with a woman drooling copious amounts of honey in Deth's "Honey Lick" photo, and another woman dramatically gobbling dripping chocolate sauce in Evans' "Chocolate Fix" oil on canvas.

The subject of meat played a prominent role in several works, such as Marilyn Hammer's "Butcher's Block", a photograph of a violent collaged scene in a blood splattered arrangement. Janet Greek's "Makin' Bacon" linocut was a carnal patchwork of hatched lines forming fornicating swine in an interior. And dramatically, Wendy Kveck's video installation, "Meateater", projected an isolated reclining head covered in cold cuts.