By: Von Bark
Wednesday April 27, 2011 to Saturday May 7, 2011
OCAD Graduate Gallery, 205 Richmond Street West
KC Adams, Keesic Douglas, Peter Morin, Cheryl L’Hirondelle and Suzanne Morrissette
Curated by Lisa Myers
The art of eating is the very substance which gives us life. The art of preparing food for consumption is an alchemical/transformative process which simmers our cultural influences in complex ways.
‘Best Before‘ is a group show of Aboriginal artists that bites into this feast. There is a light-handed but sharp sense of teasing our dominant culture. The artists all contributed recipes related to their conceptual pieces.
With “4 Reservation Food Groups“, Keesic Douglas mocks wonderbread and cheez whiz as the new alternate-world substinence-fodder.
Peter Morin portrays fish, and prepares bannock the old-fashioned way, in a fun party (and tries to set a record for the world’s largest bannock).
Suzanne Morrissette infuses a nice remedial tea if you have any problems with this.
Cheryl L’Hirondelle serves up fresh internet Spam in a new and delightfully plugged-in media-savvy way.
KC Adams’ “The Gift that Keeps on Giving” is the floor centerpiece of the show, various mute white raw materials in raw clay pots, arrayed waiting to be transformed into something to eat… flour, sugar, salt, lard, etc…
Note: The curator for this show, Lisa Myers cooks it all up for us. The opening party for this show had the most amazing snacks of any show I had ever attended in my life; Blueberry bannocks, Bufallo sausages, and some Elk, which made it a transformative experience.