Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Engaging Rubell as an Artist

July 11, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Jennifer Rubell gets a New York Magazine profile by Kera Bolonik that makes a strong case for her work as conceptual artist who uses food (primarily) as her medium

Rubell was now being called a food artist. Her whimsical, sometimes disturbing, and always spectacular events at museums and art fairs around the country matched perfectly with the lavish, self-reflective hobnobbing spirit of the contemporary-art world. They also commented on the art itself, tweaking and reveling in its consumability. Last year, she produced a dinner for the Brooklyn Museum’s annual benefit. The theme, “Icons,” allowed Rubell to honor her favorite artists: a giant piñata of Andy Warhol’s head decorated the lobby; a table arranged with 150 roasted rabbits evoked Joseph Beuys’s performance piece How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare; “drinking paintings”—blank stretched canvases, each with a tank in back and a spigot in front dispensing dirty martinis, bourbon, gin-and-tonics, white wine, rum-and-Cokes, screwdrivers—were hung on the walls, referencing Jackson ­Pollock’s “drip” paintings.

The drinking paintings were a personal breakthrough because Rubell was moving away from food and more clearly establishing her artistic objective. Interaction, she explains, is her medium; food had been the means to engage. “I’m interested in making art that people want to see and can use to understand what’s happening inside contemporary art. The minute you give people something they can participate with, it gives them access to it, because they’re a part of it.” The drinking paintings solved another problem: Rubell had found a way to “create durable objects that contained the ongoing possibility of interaction.”

It’s OK to Eat the Art (New York)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Auction House Staffing Around the GlobeAuction House Staffing Around the Globe
  • Paris Surprise in Global SalesParis Surprise in Global Sales
  • CNBC Sees Deals in the Middle Market of AntiquesCNBC Sees Deals in the Middle Market of Antiques
  • Kokoschka Portrait Stays in New OrleansKokoschka Portrait Stays in New Orleans
  • Sotheby's Hong Kong Contemporary AsianSotheby's Hong Kong Contemporary Asian
  • Ben Heller Not So Impressed with Marion Rothko He Once OwnedBen Heller Not So Impressed with Marion Rothko He Once Owned

Filed Under: Artists

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Gorky, Kandinsky Works to Make First Public Appearance Since 1970s at Sotheby's
  • Soulages First Owned by Senegalese Poet-Politician Léopold Sédar Senghor Sells in France
  • For 2020, Phillips Brought in Total of $760.4 million, Down 16 Percent from 2019; Asia Sales Up 24 Percent
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • After Pandemic’s Rapid Change, Sotheby’s Has 8 Predictions for 2021
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • A Season of Resilience: Fall 2020 Hong Kong Auction Analysis
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Christie's to Sell $12m Yves Klein to Benefit The Water Academy
  • Podcast
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor