Press release for "Supplies and Demands"

              The importance of design in consumer products is prevalent in Asha Schecter’s works that examine how desire is created through imagery and branding. For Talenti Container with Lemon and Avocado modeled and rendered by Orest Moskal (2018) and Fruit Paper Straw (Cherry) modeled and rendered by Miloš Jakubes (2018), Schechter employed modelers to translate an ice cream container and a straw into virtual 3D objects, creating realistic, detailed portrayals. However, printed as flat, one-sided images, and blown up in scale to tremendous proportions, the objects take on an uncanny dimension. Looming over us, we are drawn in by their presence, as we are by captivating labels and ads.
Nonfood, a recently formed company by a team of artists and food scientists including Lucy Chinen, Mariliis Holm, Dennis Oliver Schroerr and Sean Raspet, is at the forefront of an emerging consumer market of food products. On display in the exhibition is the second version of their Nonbar – a ready-to-eat protein bar that features algae as the key ingredient. As highly nutritional, sustainable, and efficient crops, algae have the potential to become a vital food source in our insecure ecological climate. Nonfood’s mission is to change the culture around food waste by creating a product with a low-impact carbon footprint, compared to traditional plant and animal based goods. Through their sleek, minimal branding and product design, they are also rethinking the aesthetic experiences we have with food and its packaging.
Will Benedict’s video Head in Microwave (2018) presents a rather dystopian vision in which an animated head is stuck spinning continuously in a microwave oven. While the video exists in a distant science fiction, the easily identifiable brand of the appliance as “Whirpool” pulls us back into reality and the present day – and one cannot help but make the association of the whirl in the title to the whirling of the head. In the scene, the figure is trapped by the appliance, becoming themselves a good for potential consumption. Although set in an imagined realm, the work imparts a message of caution given the state of our quickly changing climate. Supplies and Demands is curated by Paulina Samborska, Curatorial Assistant at Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Location: Otis College of Art and Design, 9045 Lincoln Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045 / Bolsky Gallery, located next to Ben Maltz Gallery Admission & Parking: Free. Visitor parking in structure on La Tijera
Hours: Tue-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat 11am-5pm Gallery contact: 310.665.6905, galleryinfo@otis.edu, www.otis.edu/benmaltzgallery
Images L-R: Will Benedict, Head in Microwave, 2018, Digital video,00:30:00; Michael Queenland, Untitled (Foreign Tongue), 2017, marble, granite, ceramic tile, dye sublimation tile, wood, tape, and metal frame, 64.25 x 32.25 x 1 inches; Maryam Jafri, Beer, 2015, unpressed aluminum beer can, custom frame, 7.5 x 10.5 x 1 inches; Untitled (Generic Corner), 2016/2018, poster, 20 x 13 inches; Nonfood, Clip from CNN Tech's Rachel Crane Takes a Look at What We May Be Eating Years in the Future: from "Tuna" Made of Tomatoes to Snack Bars Made of Algae, Published January 5, 2018, Video 00:01:20, Video produced by Jack Regan, Maya Dangerfield and Logan Whiteside for CNN Money; Nonfood, Nonbar prototype sample pack, Prototype version two, released April 22, 2018; Algae-based nutrition bar, 10 x 7 x 0.5 inches.