A Meal I Make with My Mother / Bert Rodriguez

OHWOW Gallery
BERT RODRIGUEZ
A Meal I Make with My Mother (Los Angeles)
November 19 – December 3, 2011
937 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069

A Meal I Make with My Mother (Los Angeles), begins with a one-night only performance that involves the act of preparation, serving, and consumption of a home-cooked, Cuban-style meal. Just as the title implies, the artist makes this dinner with his mother, a native of Cuba who worked as a cook in Miami for many years. The items employed in this performance – hotplates, cookware, and utensils – will then be arranged throughout the gallery as a sculptural installation and evidence of the event.

Previously performed at Frac Ile-de-France/Le Plateau in Paris, France, and at Lawrimore Projects in Seattle, Washington, this ongoing piece illuminates the poignancy and beauty of familial bonds through the simple act of cooking and eating together. This confluence of art and convention, or of locating the seemingly unremarkable practice of preparing and sharing food within the context of a pristine gallery space, magnifies the grace and gravity that exists in everyday life, while addressing broader notions of community and ritual.

Rodriguez’s work simultaneously explores and exposes the vulnerable relationship existing between art, artist, audience, and art history, while also considering the assignment of artistic value. Through subtle maneuvers, which are at times ironic, witty, or even sentimental, he reveals the overlooked facets of routine, the extraordinary within ordinary, and the aggregate power that results from relating experience.

This is Bert Rodriguez’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles and with OHWOW.

Photography by Taiyo Watanabe