Forks, knives and a ticket to The Whitney can deliver art that takes it step further a mere feast for the eyes. New York artist Darren Bader’s edible sculptures take the form of everything good for you on a pedestal. The Whitney’s eighth floor gallery will display a selection of fruits and vegetables from January 15 to February 17, curated to call attention to the objects’ colors, shapes and textures.
Throughout the week, the ripened fruits and vegetables will be taken to the museum’s cafe, transformed into the fruit and vegetable salad that new year resolutions dream of. The washing, slicing, dicing, and chopping of the produce will be captured on video and projected in the gallery for visitors to observe and anticipate. You can eat this piece of art – unlike the $120,000 banana at Miami Art Week.
In fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Bader creates a visual and participatory experience from everyday objects that continues the artist’s ongoing examination of readymade art, as well as his investigation of art as concept, language, and commodity.
“Fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad is an opportunity to be nimble in showcasing a work from the Whitney’s collection, and to collaborate with an artist the Museum first showed in the 2014 Biennial. This work’s absurdist yet sincere premise is particularly apropos in our current climate, and I hope viewers will engage through close looking, questioning, and salad-consumption,” said Christie Mitchell, senior curatorial assistant.
Scott Rothkopf, Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, remarked, “Rigorous, funny, and strangely uncanny, Bader’s work tests not only what an artwork can be but also what a museum can collect and how we display it. We’re thrilled to show this recent acquisition for the first time, though we recognize it might not taste as good as it looks.”
In fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Bader creates a visual and participatory experience from everyday objects that continues the artist’s ongoing examination of readymade art, as well as his investigation of art as concept, language, and commodity.
