CUR(eat)

Copied from https://uncmfa.wordpress.com/

CUR(eat): Educate Your Mind, Feed Your Stomach

· by · in Assignments, CUR(eat). ·
Can art be tasted?
In this next exercise we explore the intersection between art and ecology through the politics of food. For Monday Oct. 8th, Seminar 4- we will meet at my house in Carrboro. In the spirit of artist Elaine Tin Nyo and others such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, we will gather for a potluck. We are also going to discuss the first set of readings as lead by their respective groups (we will have a projector available if needed).
First things first…
Do you recall that old Supermarket Sweep reality show that was revived in the 90′s?? Where one races against the clock, running around a supermarket filling up their shopping carts and the value of the items determined the winning team? Well…yes, you guessed it. I can almost guarantee you that it will be a first = grocery shopping challenge.
The Challenge: A week from tomorrow, I will ask you to meet at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill @ 6:30pm. With a crisp $20 bill, you will purchase the ingredients for a recipe of the dish you will make for the potluck. But spending less than $20 at Whole Foods is a bigger challenge than the last project, you may be thinking…well yes, so the challenge will be to use the least amount of money and still have all of your ingredients.
The Dish: UNC has launched an academic theme about water for the next couple of years- issues dealing with availability around the world, health/sanitation, the economy, social development, and education. If you remember at our first seminar, I provided you with a list from UNICEF of countries around the world experiencing disasters in drought. Here is the list once again —> UNICEF.
I thought that we would combine this academic plan with some of the topics in our readings.
1. Choose one of the countries on the list and prepare a traditional meal from that country. You may borrow the recipe as you find it, or you may alter it to make it your own. Share it at the potluck.
2. In the process of researching your recipe- think about the implications of drought for the making of this dish in its native country- if not as a conversation piece then as an educational tidbit.
3. Share this recipe on the class blog for all of us to have (including an image).
The Venue: My back yard. This is probably one of the largest back yards in Carrboro and often mistaken for a public park. A small piece of history is still visible among all the development around- old barns, dinner bell- remnants of the old family farm that date back to the 1930′s even 20′s. There used to be an old white horse fence surrounding the property, which was recently removed a few years ago. I always found it interesting that even though it may look like private property, the removal of the fence has welcomed carrborites to now see it as a free public space.
We will have our potluck in the field. A sight for potential welcoming of the passerby.
image: from Elaine Tin Nyo’s “I want to Make Some Tamales”

Hello up there.

Who's up there looking down?  I s'pose there ain't much to see.  A stripe. A stripe. A stripe.  Ad infinitum. Or at least until I'm done.

Oil on paper


I've been painting on top of these abstract works.  There are areas where the paint has been applied thick enough that once it dries there are ridges on the surface of the paper.  That underlying texture breaks the uniformity of the smooth surface and enhances the painterly quality of the work.

Sitting Down



You ever listen to the Andre 3000 track, "She Lives In My Lap"


"She stays alone, never sheds a single tear
She stays in the coolest moods, clearly woman of the year
She and all her girlfriends, they go out dressed to win
She comes back to the cooler side of town
but she lives in my lap"
-Andre 3000

White Parts Coloured Red

What does it feel like to be involuntarily frozen with eyes shut and lips pursed? A political discussion should ensue. I am a man. My skin is darker. My hair is coarser. We are human. SHE is human. The tasks of determining the hues, shades, textures, shapes, sizes, and slopes of the parts that make up the whole, have largely been covered for her. What has she done, what will she do, what will she say that will illuminate what lies beyond our expectations? As you know, I have no right to answer for her and have probably stepped out of bounds by asking the question in the first place.

Built Forged Faked



(The text below was copied from the UNC Art Department website)

Allcott Gallery Exhibition: Built Forged Faked


UNC-Chapel Hill First Year MFA Exhibition

January 10 – February 7, 2012
Exhibition reception: Jan. 10, 6-8 pm

Artists are the modern soothsayers and builders who seek insight into a complex society. They are a visual narrative. They are the cultural products they inhabit. They are the culture they critique. They are the culture they create. They are studies of space in-between, the nostalgia of places they have never been and memories of the places they want to go.

In Built Forged Faked the first year MFA students of UNC-Chapel Hill investigate unraveling narratives of identity, race, gender, geography, ritual and constructed spaces. These narratives hang from string to object, object to material, material to surface using seemingly incongruent bits of information, erasing, blurring lines of memory and emotions that cannot be jettisoned but are too cumbersome to carry. Though distinctly different in style and process each artist forges a new narrative dissolving barriers, bringing into dialogue issues of place and belonging.

From January 10th to February 7th the John and June Allcott gallery will be inhabited with string landscapes, shimmering blankets, old barns, altered and investigated bodies, natural environments, haunting lullabies, ghosts of the Great Plains, and not-so-functional objects.

Lauren Salazar transforms a section of the gallery space with her three-dimensional drawings of string. Michael Iauch’s videos explore his relationship with his environment. William Thomas examines a personal relationship with race through painting. Damian Stamer also uses paint to capture sites of rural childhood exploration. Stephen Taylor looks at the human physical and metaphysical relationship to nature through the juxtaposition of geology and transcendental philosophy. Ali Halperin investigates digital dissemination and consumption as it relates to contemporary sociological issues of gender and performance. Nicole Bauguss constructs objects from weathered parts of historical structures to address issues of accessibility and social responsibility in art making. Julia Gootzeit interprets nature, landscape, and human intervention in her two-dimensional work. George Jenne uses video to capture the illicit pleasures of adolescent quests and ruses.

Admission: Free

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 am-5 pm

UNC Art Department: http://art.unc.edu/index.htm

Contact: Hong-An Truong, hatruong@email.unc.edu