Donut Art – or at least a little view of some.

This picture captures just one of the numerous faces the artist painted on fondant that was laid atop of donuts which had been rotting for a year and a half. The blobs of rotting art lay clustered on a rickety plywood table in the middle of the gallery space so that one can see them from almost every angle.

The artist is Gaylen Gerber and the exhibit is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through September 8th. The exhibit is described on the website with this goal:

“This exhibition aims to provocatively prod the imagined boundaries among art objects and the physical and social environments they inhabit in museums. In turn, the artist’s practice complicates the ways that institutions tend to ascribe value to objects and experiences in their stewardship of a permanent collection.”

I’m not sure that I came to the thoughtful conclusion that the artist was shooting for but I did think twice before buying my maple and bacon donut at Glazed and Infused the next day…and then I bought it anyway.

For more information about the artist and the current exhibit check this out: http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/now/2013/323