Portraying Food in Chinese Art @ Walsh Gallery

Interest in Chinese art has reached a fever pitch, but Wu Hung has always been ahead of the curve. Since 1999, the curator and scholar has been arranging groundbreaking exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art at the University of Chicago's Smart Museum. In a current group show at the Walsh Gallery, Wu spotlights Chinese artists for whom food is a central concern. The theme has been a recurring topic throughout the history of art — from still-life paintings of fruit to Warhol's celebration of soup — and serves as a lens through which sociopolitical issues can be viewed. These paintings, sculptures, and photographs provide both alluring and unsettling takes on food-related issues, including consumerism, biotechnology, and sexuality. - Karsten Lund