Ever since our ancestors depicted the hunt for dinner on the walls of caves, cuisine and its culture have always met in the visual arts. 440 Gallery hosts their annual summer theme show Food for Thought, a national juried exhibition exploring food in all its manifestations. For many of the selected works the cliche "starving artist" has less to do with physical hunger and more to do with the disconnection between nourishment and the food we eat: a photograph of a blue-tinged chicken carcass, a mosaic made up of brightly colored cereals, and a cake made of cement. They suggest metaphysical starvation in a land of plenty. The following 26 artists have been selected by the juror Jennifer Coates: Elizabeth Albert, Alan Alejo, Sarah Allen, Eric Banks, Zel Brook, Mitsuko Brooks, Bill Cullen, Patricia Denys, Mary DeVincentis, Andrew Francis, Lauren Garfinkel, Neal Levin, Brooke Marcy, Tali Margolin, Laura Murray, Lucas Novaes, Gun Roze, Toni Silber-Delerive, Frances Sniffen, Dani Stelle, James Strong, Meagan Thompson, Lisa Tubach, Melissa Walker, Hyeonkyeong Yeo, Rachel Youens. The exhibition will run from Thursday, August 21, through Saturday, September 13, 2014, with an opening reception on Thursday, August 21, 6:00-9:00pm.
The juror for this year's Theme Show is Jennifer Coates, a painter, musician and writer living in New York City. She has written reviews of art exhibits for publications such as Time Out New York, Art in America and The Brooklyn Rail, and has taught in art programs around the country. She has also widely exhibited her work in numerous group shows and has had solo shows at Feigen Contemporary, Kevin Bruk Gallery and Luxe Gallery.