Art Is Food, Feed the People. Art is Food, Eat Something. These have been the mantras of ARTSHOP since 2005. The phrase comes from a poem I wrote and read at an Art Town Meeting in Burlington, Vermont in February 2005. So many people asked me for a copy of the poem that the following summer, I illustrated it and turned it into an artist book that was screenprinted with the help of Benoit Depelteau. So many people wanted a copy of the book, that I released a mass printed version of the book.
Details
7.5″ x 5.5″
saddle-stitched bound
20 full-colour pages
2008
ISBN 978-0-9771397-1-2
ART IS FOOD
Art is food. Our country is hungry.
You cannot pry apart the two chocolate sides of a Georgia O’Keefe painting and lick the creamy vanilla center.
The rampant elements of a de Kooning do not make a nice stew.
Do not smear Pollock on your organic buckwheat toast in the morning and wash it down with a cup of steaming hot Andy Warhol.
Art is food. Our country is hungry.
Art is food and our country is hungry.
I believe that now, more than ever, we need the nourishing, nurturing, restorative power of art.
These are uncertain, confusing, and painful times. We are assaulted by war, disease, and conflict. Our country is suffering from neglect. The social bonds are unraveling. Human connection becomes harder and harder to maintain.
Our country is hungry.
Art is food.
Art is a nourishment you cannot buy at the grocery store. You cannot find at the mall. You cannot call 1-800-SEND-NOW and have delivered by FEDEX to your doorstep.
Art is scarce.
It does not grow on trees. It does not rise from the land each spring. It does not ooze from the snowcaps. A drought of sacred ails the land, fortitude is hiding too far beneath the surface, and Art cannot be found as easily as it should be.
Art is food and our country is hungry.
We have a duty to bring art into the world, to thrust it upon our neighbors, to force it upon our children, to make our community a vibrant, dynamic fortress of art.
Our country is hungry and we have the food.
We must, We must
Because our country is hungry,
and because Art is food.