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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Comfort Food @ Soo Visual Arts
Wednesday 12 March @ 12:32:28 |
 by Jenny Assef
When the wind bites and the cold stings, and we’ve all had it up to here with winter, it’s time to remember our favorite comforts. Many of these are food—the garlic mashed potatoes or hot tea or steaming bowls of soup that sustain us in more ways than one. Nonedible comforts bring vital sustenance as well, though it’s harder to gauge the nutritional value of timeworn jackets and handwritten correspondences. What we learn in enduring our roughest season is that we are creatures of multiple needs, and that, deep down, we know what makes us happy.
Art by Michael Hoyt
Just ask the artists featured in Comfort Food at Soo Visual Arts Center, who line up like survivors of winter breakups to show us what comfort means to them. Their approaches vary in medium and appeal to different senses. More often than not, their works involve interaction, demonstrating that what comforts us most is frequently what saves us from being alone.
Take Helena Keefe’s “Letters,” for instance, in which the viewer rests his or her head against a mounted pillow to hear a recitation of personal letters, or Jean Humke’s “Lovos Project,” an installation that one can’t help but want to lean or sit or nap upon. Both works bring nuances of private nostalgia to an otherwise public space.
Andrea Petrini’s fabric art also allows a peek into the private realm, with stitching and materials that suggest long evenings spent at home. Embroidered onto cuts of found cloth that resemble handkerchiefs, both “Balloon” and “Snow Walk” offer scenes like old stories repeated throughout the winter months.
Similarly narrative is Michael Hoyt’s impressive tribute to a favorite indoor activity, karaoke. In his large-scale installation, “Noraebang (Song Room),” Hoyt examines the ethos of transit between geographical and emotional locations, underlining the fact that “home” is an entity of constant reinvention.
“My work involves representing points of cultural intersection, the hyphen, and how that serves as a reference for the complexities of ‘American’ culture and the multiplicity of our perceived ‘American’ experiences,” Hoyt explains. “I am captivated by the multiplicity of human experience and drawn to the potential of public exchange.”
You will likely find yourself captivated by “Noraebang (Song Room),” which alone is worth giving up your warm bed and pajamas and dragging yourself out to see this show.
Comfort Food runs through April. 6. S oo Visual Arts, 2640 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls. Gallery hours are 11–6 weekdays, 12–5 weekends, closed Tuesdays. 612-871-2263.
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