Sugar, Sugar | 1 to 19 October 2013
Brenda May Gallery, Gadigal/Sydney


EXHIBITION BRIEF: This exhibition featured contemporary art made exclusively with sugar by ten female artists. By embodying the ephemeral nature of the substance, many of the installations only lasted for the duration of the exhibition.

As a species, we are predisposed to seek out sugar to supplement our diet. “Sweet tooth” and “sugar rush” are colloquial phrases used to describe our bodies’ cravings for and reaction to the substance. Our inclination to seek out the sweet stuff speaks to the pervasiveness of sugar in the visual arts.


ARTISTS: Matina Bourmas, Irianna Kanellopoulou, Judith Klausner, Stephanie Jones, Claire McArdle, Shelley Miller, Mylyn Nguyen, Janet Tavener, Claire Anna Watson, and Elizabeth Willing.
10 artists, 24 artworks.

This exhibition included sculpture, installation, video, jewellery, and performance and drew together Australian artists from NSW, ACT, VIC, and QLD alongside artists from the United States and Canada.

PERFORMANCES:

  • Matina Bourmas, Gifting (2013), performed each day of the exhibition from 2:30-3pm.
  • Elizabeth Willing, Dessert II (2013), performed on 3 October 2013.

< Invitation: Elizabeth Willing, Dessert II, 3 October 2013, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney.

The Dessert (II) and the ‘Sugar Sugar’ exhibition highlight the many rewarding, varied possibilities for expressive and conceptual art practice based around senses other than the purely visual.

– Sarah Vandepeer, Art Almanac

DOCUMENTATION:

< Exhibition Catalogue: Sugar, Sugar: an exhibition of ten female artists. Sydney: Brenda May Gallery, 2013. ISBN 9780646904030.

PUBLICATION:
The 20-page exhibition catalogue includes three essays, Performative and Interactive Aspects of Sugar in Art by Megan Fizell, Sweet Sense by Olivia Welch, and Speciousness, Thy Name is Sugar! by Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch, full-page colour reproductions of the artworks in the exhibition, artist biographies, and a bibliography.

The work in both Sugar Sugar and in Doig’s exhibition knowingly play with values and expectations, putting these traditionally female craft skills into the context of a contemporary art exhibition.

– Andrew Frost, The Guardian


PUBLICATIONS & LECTURES:
Fizell, Megan. “Affect and food art,” presented at Higher Degree Research Conference (Panel 5: Cultures; Performances; Mediations), UNSW Art & Design, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 24 October 2019.
Fizell, Megan R. “Curating Multisensory and Food-Based Art,” presented at SPARK: Museums. Ideas. Connections., convened by Museums & Galleries of NSW at the Art Gallery of New South Wales; 21 Sept 2022.
Fizell, Megan R. “Gastronomic Body: Sensory and sociocultural dimensions of food art.” PhD dissertation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2021.
Fizell, Megan. “Sugary Masterpieces.” Appetite, November 2013: 44-47. Print.


MEDIA & CITATIONS:
Berry, Ashleigh. “What’s On.” Inner City Weekender, 27 September 2013: 21. Print.
Gorman, James. “Exhibition Hoping to Prove a Sweet Success.” Central Sydney Magazine, 25 September 2013: 7. Print.
Frost, Andrew. “Funny, crafty women make a serious point about our expectations of art.” The Guardian, 1 October 2013. Web.
Frost, Andrew. “Sugar Sugar.” The Art Life, 26 September 2013. Web.
Howells, Thomas, ed. “Elizabeth Willing.” Experimental Eating. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2014. 130-131. Print.
Jansen, Charlotte. “Eat It!” Elephant 21 (Winter 2015): 62-71. Print. (web).
Kumurdian, Dijana. “News Grab.” Vogue Living, September/October 2013: 108. Print.
Rebuelta, Paula. “Atracón en el museo con Jennifer Rubell.” ROOM: diseño + arquitectura + creación contemporánea, 29 January 2019. Web.
“This month’s best shows.” Time Out Sydney, October 2013: 46. Print.
Vandepeer, Sarah. “Sugar Sugar.” Art Almanac, October 2013: 46-47. Print.
Wan, Ren. “Eyes on Food.” Antipasto 11 (2013): 10-15. Print.
Welch, Olivia. “Sweet Sense.” Trouble Magazine, October 2013: 14-19. Web.


NEWSLETTERS:
Email newsletter, Brenda May Gallery, 10 October 2013. Web.
Email newsletter, Brenda May Gallery, 26 September 2013. Web.
2013 Annual Calendar, Brenda May Gallery. Print.


Read all posts related to this exhibition here and follow along on Instagram with the hashtag #sugarsugar2013.


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