Upcoming Exhibition
"In the Larder” by Emily Loehle
Introducing Emily Loehle…Artist Statement
Food is one of the most basic human needs. What we choose to eat defines a significant part of how we relate to the world. Yet, in this modern climate of convenience, we are playing an ever-decreasing role in the creation of the vital resources that nourish us. Whether deciding between boxes of cereal, cuts of meat or kinds of apples, it seems we are engaging ourselves in the same way and I wonder if life would be more fulfilling were these experiences more authentic and our participation in them more tangible. In my work with food imagery, I portray food and food products, which reflect my own experience as a consumer and which illustrate the influence of commercial and industrial processes on production and consumption as a whole.
Through casting these foods and creating replicas of them, I am recalling the monotonous processes that are responsible for their existence in the first place. Through then manipulating these generic forms recomposing, recombining and reinterpreting their context, I am playing with perceptions of what is familiar to portray something that is not. An arrangement of groceries floats in mid air without the table to support it, a pile of bread dangles to the ground with only a ribbon and bow to keep it from falling. Through these misconstrued relationships and precarious presentations, I aim to elicit familiarity with the viewer while also casting a shadow of doubt. Walking this line between sentiment and uncertainty, I hope to gain understanding of the impact of modern consumer practice on my own sense of identity and to offer the viewer an opportunity to do the same