To wrap up my examination of the happy marriage of food and art, I give you:
A sculpture that eats salad!
Anselmo, Giovanni. Untitled (Structure that Eats Salad), 1968.
Image from Ikon Gallery.
Giovanni Anselmo was a member of an art movement known as Arte Povera. Taking place primarily in Italy during the sixties and seventies, this group of revolutionaries were described by their founder, Germano Celant, as portraying "an asystematic way of living in a world where the system is everything." These artist poked fun at the art world, using materials like earth, steel, rags, trash, and propane flames, along with "acceptable" sculptural materials such as marble, silks, gold leaf and even fragments of classical sculpture.
My favorite piece from Arte Povera is (Structure that Eats Salad.) Anselmo crushed lettuce between a large slab of marble and a smaller stone, supported by copper wire. As the lettuce wilted over time, the smaller block of marble fell to the ground, originally onto a pile of sawdust. The piece is loaded with references to the history of art and the cultural climate of its time. In using marble, Anselmo is referencing history; the classic sculpture of the Renaissance revered by Italy. The transformation of the lettuce is a comment on Anselmo's interest in metamorphosis (of organisms, government, and culture), and the copper wire is a reference to the transfer of energy and power.
(I also loved the piece because it was always a breeze to memorize for art history tests. Anselmo sounds so much like salad!)
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