Week Three

Lens-Based Artists:

1.)  Peter Menzel

http://www.menzelphoto.com/

Peter Menzel is a freelance photojournalist. My favorite work by Peter Menzel is his series in which he photographs families all over the world behind a table filled with their week’s worth of food. I really like this work because it is a good visual that shows how much food we consume in a week; it is a real eye opener.

2.)  Matthew Carden

http://www.matthewcarden.com/

Matthew Carden is a contemporary photographer that combines toys with food. When I look at his work, I see a critique in food consumption. Compared to the toys, the food is larger than life. The size of the food criticizes the amount of food we actually consume. It also tells how we as a society place food on a high pedestal. Food is so important in our everyday life, and it is shown through Carden’s work. 

3.)  Cherry Archer

http://cherryarcher.com/

Cherry Archer is a contemporary photographer. Archer’s project titled “Consumption Society” mostly relates to my own work. “Consumption Society is a series of photographs that shows how and what we consume (as far as food is concerned), and why we glamorize it; the work was influenced by the level of consumption in Western Society.  

Non-Lens-Based Artists:

1.)  Martha Rosler

http://www.martharosler.net/

Martha Rosler is an installation and performance artist. She also works with video. In her series “Bringing the War Home”, Rosler combines war with pop culture using collage. This series shows how we as a society are no longer shocked or fear the images that she is depicting. Instead, we are desensitized to the horrors of war because of how often the media exposes us to it. Martha Rosler’s work is relevant to my work because I have recently started to work with collage. I am also interested in exploring consumption and the attraction to things that are “unflattering”.

2.)  Jennifer Rubell

http://jenniferrubell.com/index.php?sec=bio

Jennifer Rubell is New York based installation and performing artist. She uses a lot of food and drink in her installations. She also encourages the audience to participate in her installations, something that violates the traditional boundaries of art institutions. In her series of work “Nutcrackers”, Rubell took female mannequins and mounted them on their sides. Visitors of the exhibition were then invited to take a pecan and place it on the mannequin’s bottom thigh, and crack it open by pulling down the upper thigh. I really like this work because it embodies two stereotypes: the idealized sexual beauty of a woman, and the powerful nut-busting woman. This is relevant to my work because I like to explore the stereotype of idealized beauty in our society.

3.) Joy Kampia

      http://www.joykampia.com/

Joy Kampia is a contemporary artist that has a degree in Studio Art with an emphasis in textile. Her favorite medium to work with is crochet. My favorite work by Joy Kampia is her wearable art collection (her wearable art collection includes crocheted dresses). I really like this work because it says a lot about the consumption of food: are we really that obsessed with food that we have to wear it? What happens when we do wear it? What happens when we start to become the food we consume?