Banquet Art
Hokin Gallery, Chicago IL
Presented in conjunction with CAA ARTexchange and Committee on Women in the Arts
Banquet Art is modeled after 19th century butter sculptor Caroline Shawk Brooks’ live demonstrations in which she sculpted one face after another on the same bust of butter. Participants sculpt a series of portraits starting as Ms. Brooks would have started, with Christopher Columbus, then moving jauntily through history creating likenesses of Potato Jesus, Baby Napoleon and Mark Zuckerberg. This satirical take on the history of greatness also celebrates a woman before her time. Brooks was thinking about materiality long before it was in vogue, providing her access to a world that was otherwise shut off to women. She can also be credited with inspiring one of my favorite contemporary art forms--State Fair BUTTER COWS! (Hi IOWA) It just gets butter and butter.
