The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, September 18, 2008- 3B

Marriage of food and art

EDIBLES
From Page 1B
as a relic from his past perfor-
mances on world hunger. The
plates were originally used in
a performance where DeCaus-
sin invited a group to eat a meal
with him off the plates. When
the guests were finished and
full, their plates empty of food,
a painting of a starved child was
revealed to them on their plate.
His contribution to Work pays
tribute to how cultures outside
our own view food.
Another chilling commentary
on consumption comes from
Art and Design graduate stu-
dent Brad Wicklund. His work,
"United States of America," pres-
ents a series of American states
silk-screened on freezer paper to
represent T-bone steaks. The red
slabs of Michigan, Florida and
Oklahoma have borders of bone,
rivers of veins and lakes of fat
deposits. What results is a self-
reflection on the overabundant,
wasteful and environmentally
unsound meat production prac-
tices in this country.
"InAmericaespecially, there is
no connection with food," Utter
said. "We have become detached

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ur food in so many ways. ent from the bright and confi-
nted to reconnect people dent advertisements that usually
heir food. Just knowing showcase the goods.
your food comes from, The exhibit's call for work
icken doesn't come from asked submitting artists what
n plant, is a concept we food says about a culture's core
d to tackle." values.Intheirwork,we find the
sumerism is also a recur- answers: consumerism, over-
heme throughout "Edi- production, mass consumption
Tony Hope, a student at and artificial nutrients. Luck-
llege for Creative Stud- ily, as with most widely criti-
Detroit, displayed a series cized social behaviors, there
ed media paintings that is a counter-movement. In this
led a version of sinis- case, it is the local food move-
ment that has manifested itself
in the artists' work as the moral
opponent.
daily m enu Using food coloring, vanilla
extract, icing, rice crispies, but-
nters new ter and Styrofoam, Heather Anne
Leavitt crafted sculptures that
yrritory as are meant to represent the build-
. ing of a community through local
m irable art. foods. Eggs, hens and barns are
all stacked on one another in a
balancing act, demonstrating the
dependence between each indi-
p art. Taking the logos of vidual element.
recognizable products . In some ways the folksy con-
p-Tarts, Farmer Jack and cept is building community itself.
ip, Hope layers newspa- By inviting people from around
awing and stencils under town and outside of the School of
hat drips and runs off his Art and Design to contribute, the
This technique gives his student curators are enhancing
igs - and the products dis- and challenging our ideas about
in them - a very uneasy art, culture and most important-
t's a tone distinctly differ- ly, food.

Seriously, you're running out of money. Stop.
Reckless antics
wane inHollywood

Poor Anne Hathaway. In the
last two months, she's been
a victim of more deception
than her homely, frizzy-haired
character in "The Princess Dia-
ries." First, her boyfriend Raf-
faello Follieri - a.k.a. the Italian
Zach Braff
- turns out
to be a crimi-
nally inept
version of
Tony Soprano,
but with bet-
ter hair. One
month later, ARK
tabloids report SCIIUJZ
that Hathaway
paid for Follieri's $300,000 per
month high-rise apartment. Fol-
lieri's money laundering must've
involved literally washing his
money with Tide.
Hathaway's ex was then con-
victed last Wednesday of wiretap-
ping, laundering and conspiracy,
and could face up to five years
in prison. Fortunately, the "Get
Smart" star seems stable, if
bad at constructing metaphors.
In a recent interview with W
magazine, she said: "The rug was
pulled out from under me all of a
sudden. But, just as suddenly, my
friends threw another rug back
under me." No word as to why
Hathaway's friends have such an
abundance of rugs, and why she
doesn't just install carpeting.
Speaking of relationships
more ill-advised than a hunt-
ing trip with Sarah Palin and
Dick Cheney, Lindsay Lohan and
Samantha "DJ Vampire" Ronson
are set to marry before the year
is out. Also moving toward mar-
riage is Tara Reid, best known
for her Academy Award-winning
performance in "The Queen." Oh

wait, that was Helen Mirren. Tara
was in one of the "Van Wilder"s,
I think, and an "American Pie"
or two. Anyway, she's heading off
to the altar with her boss at J&J
Company Fashion, Julien Jar-
moune.
According to sources, Justin
Timberlake and Jessica - "Forget
I was in 'Summer Catch"' - Biel
are close to tying the knot. The
rumor is fairly unsubstantiated
but, fortunately, speculation is
one of my hobbies. if I were rely-
ing only on substantiated facts,
I'd have nothing but the story of
nutjob priest David Ajemian, who
was recently renounced by the
Archdiocese of Boston and forced
to leave his post after pleading
guilty to disorderly conduct, a.k.a
stalking Conan O'Brien. I admire
the Vatican's priorities: Please, if
you have to bother someone, don't
annoy a celebrity. Make it an altar
boy or an unmarried couple in
Nigeria using contraception.
I know, I know, we're well into
a gossip column and I have yet to
mention the upcoming election.
Whether we like it or not (and,
often, we don't) the intersection of
politics and low-culture is a main-
stay of our tabloid society, from
Obama's appearance on Letter-
man to Paris Hilton's inscrutable
John McCain video. As another
example of this disturbing phe-
nomenon, McCain rented a yacht
from our old friend Follieri for his
70th birthday. Wow, connections
with Follieri and a Heidi Montag
endorsement. What happened,
McCain? Was Tila Tequila too
busy gyrating on her stripper pole
to host a GOP fundraiser?
On the other hand - or, more
appropriately, on the other wool-
en glove - Palin is faring much

worse among Tinseltown's opin-
ionated mouths. In an interview
with the Associated Press, Matt
Damon quotes "actuarial tables"
to prove McCain has a one-in-
three chance of dying in office,
leaving inexperienced Palin in
charge. Come on, Matt, I know
you went to Harvard, but you're
not actually Will Hunting. Pamela
Anderson, in a move the political
world has been awaiting, also put
in her two cents on Palin.
"She can suck it," Anderson
told El. Classy.
In an interview with AOL Ses-
sions, singer Pink went with the
always-popular blanket state-
ment, saying that Palin "hates
women." She might as well have
criticized Barack Obama, saying
that he, like a certain president,
doesn't care about black people.
Palin impersonators are also
ubiquitous; Gina Gershon stars in
a Palin-mocking video that ends
with her firing an assault rifle in
an American-flagbikini, while
"30 Rock" star Tina Fey recently
rejoined "SNL" just to play the
famous hockey mom (although
I speculate she wants back in
because she still has a mad crush.
on Kenan "Pierre Escargot"
Thompson).
On a final, disheartening note,
Lauren "LC the place to be" Con-
rad has reportedly earned a three-
book deal with Harper Collins.
Certainly this has nothing to with
her celebrity and everything to do
with the linguistic virtuosity she's
displayed on "The Hills." The
first book, a work of teen fiction
that will mirror elements of Con-
rad's own life, should probably be
called "Money From My Father."
Britney Spears is also sticking her
feet in the fine arts pool, as an oil
painting of her is being auctioned
off on eBay. Included with the
painting are all three of Britney
Spears "MTV Music Awards." She
didn't want them, anyway.
Sheesh. Celebrities today are
caught up in illicit business deals,
endorsing politicians, writing
books and posing for art. Plus,
these days Spears appears to actu-
ally be consuming more water than
Red Bull and vodka. They're all
becoming too ... responsible. What
happened to the standard celebrity
night out complete with coke buffet
and plastered make-out sessions?
For that matter, when was the last
time a rock musician hit a fan with
a car and made a drunken getaway
down Santa Monica?O Oh well.
Hopefully next week will be more
entertaining.
Schultz's DVR constantly
records E!. Tell him to stop at
markthos@umich.edu.

The "Edibles" exhibition runs through October 3.

YOU MISSED
THE LAST
MASS
MEETING.
BUT IT'S
" NOT TOO
LATE.
0
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