I know this review comes a few weeks late. But Reflect, presented by the University College Literary Athletic Society, touched me—somewhere close to my chest, to be precise—in a very meaningful way. So what kept me, someone so profoundly touched by this event, from reviewing it sooner? It was my consideration for the art of others, the feelings of the artists, and the deep impact of that art on so many lives.
But I’ve found a way around this. I will only review the one piece I considered important (i.e. good). Thus, I focus my lens on the work that moved me more significantly than any other, an installation created by the show’s curators and aptly called “The Buffet.”
This brilliant “food spread,” both multifaceted and aesthetically pleasing, was a conglomeration of cheese (mozzarella, brie, white cheddar and old cheddar), fruit (strawberries, grapes and an endless array of melons), desserts (too many to name!) and drinks (both hot and cold). Most profoundly, the installation was interactive! Not only could you revel in its marvels, but the artistes urged me to “eat up” (likely a clever intertextual reference), to, in short, consume and be consumed by its meaning, its substance.
The most brilliant aspect of the installation (although challenged by its creators’ inspired pairing of cracker and cheese—who would have thought sesame and brie—oh, good showing!) would have to be the meaning behind the medium. These artists decided, at a show dealing with homelessness, starvation, and poverty, to serve numerous costly and delicious foods to the educated, financially sound, employed, and financed students who attended. Even more impressively, the food was replenished not once or twice but countless times, lest another less-poignant exhibit steal its fire, claim its passion or distract the students from the biscotti.
