Sopa de su propio chocolate / Just deserts is a solo exhibition of multilayered paintings, installation, and collaborative performance that investigate the relationship between food, culture, conflict, and justice.
The dual titles of this exhibition are expressions in Spanish and English that mean a person gets what they deserve, either reward or punishment. Both phrases refer to food, directly in Spanish and as a homophone in English. This mixture of meanings are explored in the painting, Just Desserts, which contains four photographs; one of my uncle who was a state trooper, documentation of 1960s American Civil Rights Sit-ins by Fred Blackwell, video stills from of a police assault, and a reinterpretation of work by Brazilian performance artist and crime scene investigator, Berna Reale, who photographed police officers eating cupcakes. The painting interrogates the fact that police can literally get away with murder, and makes an ironic commentary on the impunity that they enjoy. Instead of justice being served, they get to have their cake and eat it too.
The works in this exhibition investigate the history and symbolism of food in visual culture. What we eat, and who we eat with, is deeply connected to our individual and national identities. The dining table is often the place where the personal and political collide and can become a stage for intense drama. We see this in cinema, where there are many famous dinner scenes that powerfully capture these dynamics. Movies like American Beauty, Look Who's Coming to Dinner, and Festen (The Celebration), to name a few. Every example reveals the psychological tension beneath the surface of etiquette when eating together.
Through mixed media works and experimental performance Sopa de su propio chocolate / Just deserts aims to explore the nuanced intersection of food, etiquette, and justice through personal and structural lenses.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Presented in two compelling parts, Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial showcases the work of 53 emerging artists who completed The Bronx Museum’s annual Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) Fellowship program in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023.
In response to the world-altering events of the past four years, these AIM Fellows have been exploring urgent issues through their work—critiquing systems of power through the lens of lived experience and cultural identity as well as pushing boundaries of visual language and materiality. Some artists sought to apply the lens of lived experience to contemporary issues; others used it as a launching pad to imagine possible solutions and speculative futures.
A range of new and recent works that have never been seen before will be on view in the Biennial exhibition and for many artists, this is their first opportunity to exhibit work in an institutional setting.
Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial is curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, Director of Curatorial Programs.
JOSHUA NIERODZINSKI
HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING
MAY 7th - JUNE 11th, 2023
CONTEXT
948 3rd Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11232
contextspace.org
Opening Reception: May 7th, 5-8pm
Artist Talk: June 4th, 2-4pm
History Repeats (In Progress)
Oil on linen
24 x 20 in.
60.96 x 50.8 cm.
2020-
The original inset photograph by Howard Sochurek shows a protestor undergoing intimidation training. His stand-in tormentors were David Gunter, an N.A.A.C.P.-student adviser (left), and Leroy Hill,a high school teacher. The Sochurek photograph is inset on top of a portrait of my brother, Malcolm.
Counter Protest (In Progress)
Oil on linen
24 x 20
The central image of this layer is a photograph by Wally McNamee. It captures the American Nazi Party counter-demonstration while civil rights protesters sit-in trying to gain service for African Americans on June 9, 1960 at the Cherrydale Drug Fair in Arliington, Virginia. Sit-in protesters left to right are Laurence Henry, Joan Trumpauer, Mulholland and Dion Diamond.
The McNamee photograph is layered
on top of a portrait of my grandfather, a first generation American from Poland.
March 16, 2022
Portrait of Anne Moody, the woman who initiated the Jackson Woolworth's sit-in of 1963. An incredible act of courage, heart, and dedication. Moody dedicated her life to civil rights activism with the NAACP, CORE, and SNCC. She writes about her experience in her memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968). Her portrait is inset over a portrait of my mother, Ora Finn.
The Future is Female (In Progress)
Oil on Linen
24 x 20 in.
60.96 x 50.8 cm.
2020-
March 15, 2022
This painting contains the right half of the photograph by Fred Blackwell that captures the civil rights sit-in at the Woolworths counter in Jackson, Mississippi, USA on May 28th, 1963.
At the center is Anne Moody, a 23 year old student at Tougaloo College. A streak of flour that runs down the center of her head. Moments later the scene would turn violent with the mob attacking her and fellow protestors, Joan Traumpauer and John Salter, Jr.
The Blackwell photograph is inset on top of a portrait of my "uncle", David Ciesluk. The next layer is the infrared layer that will continue to look in American history where freedom, security, and food intersect.
(Not Yet Titled / In Progress)
Oil on Linen
24 x 20 in.
60.96 x 50.8 cm.
2020-
March 11, 2022
I make paintings with many layers of materials.
This is the lead layer that will be covered completely by another image but will be retrieved with X-ray photography.
The original photograph referenced here is by Fred Blackwell. It captures the civil rights sit-in at the Woolworths counter in Jackson, Mississippi, USA on May 28th, 1963. A young man is caught pouring a jar of sugar onto protester, Joan Traumpauer.
The Blackwell photograph is inset on top of a portrait of my uncle Robert (Bobby) Morse, a Connecticut State police officer. The next layer (Infrared) will continue to look at this moment in American history where freedom, security, and food intersect.