Mar 11, 2014 L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments at CAM
Trinh Mai, Michael Massenburg, Ching Ching Cheng, and Michael C. Hsiung at L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments at CAM (March 11, 2014)
This morning, I crashed the press preview of the L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments exhibit at the Chinese American Museum. My friend Steve Wong, the museum’s Interim Executive Editor and show’s co-curator, had been telling me about his idea for a group art show with the theme of Sriracha Sauce and Tapatio for almost two years and it was cool to finally see it reach fruition.
Steve explained that the museum’s mission is historical, art can be used to explore its culture and evolution. The hot sauces have been found in Chinese and Mexican restaurants for years and years but not they can be found at pizza joints, too. What does this say about us in Los Angeles? We are not a cultural melting pot but a rice bowl, and our tastes–culinary or aesthetic–are not limited by our skin color.
L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments at CAM (March 11, 2014)
The 30 contributing artists (31 if each of the Clayton Brothers are counted) were given free reign of the topics, and only one veered off the subjects. But since wasabi is the mother of ethic flavors in Los Angeles, why not? Above, clockwise from the top left are the neon groceries of Patrick Martinez; saucy sculpture of Jose Sarinara (with mutations of traditional styles by Phung Huynh and Henry Taylor in the background); Ripley’s Believe it or Not! style tribute to Sriracha creator David Tran by Audrey Chan and show mascot by Michael C. Hsiung; and colonial study by Chris Christion.
L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments at CAM (March 11, 2014)
The subject matter allowed the curators to expand cast its net in a wider than usual matter, both in terms of ethnicity and high or low, gallery or street art. Clockwise from to left: Shark Toof’s sauce-on-placemat tabelecloth; Werc’s surreal-meets-psychedelic montages; Sket One’s sculpted tributes to the playfulness and potency of Sriraacha and Sand One’s pop; Slick’s reaction to the Sriracha factory being labeled a pepper spray factory by the City of Industry.
L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments at CAM with writer Martin Wong, co-curator Steve Wong, and contributing artist Michael C. Hsiung (March 11, 2014)
The show, which runs through July 12, 2014, will feature several talks and conclude with an online auction benefiting the museum. Most of the artists will be in attendance at Thursday night’s opening and there will food as well–both spicy and not. Check out camla.org for the scoop, and hope to see you there!