ARTS . Re-View

Food for Thought

Robin Rice on Visual Art


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Published: Jan 26, 2011

Jenny Drumgoole's work has become increasingly bizarre, humorous and unsettling — a feminist Borat meets David Lynch. (Full disclosure: I was acquainted with Drumgoole before she began her 2006 M.F.A. at Yale, where she entered as a photographer and emerged a video artist.)

In her latest piece, Drumgoole integrates autobiographical documentary with fantasy and animation. The installation tells the story of Drumgoole's participation in a recipe contest sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Paula Deen.

Contestants were asked to tape themselves using cream cheese in original recipes. To inspire them, Deen posted a series of online "Tips from the Team," which Drumgoole follows artfully. As possible "garnishments" for a "Sweet and Savory Cream Cheese Mould," she suggests "some ribbons, some straws, some flowers and cat toys. Give yourself more options than not."

Drumgoole explores the relationship between a private individual and the artifice of a public personality like Deen, though the core of her work in this and other projects is a conflicted relationship with food: a dance between longing and repulsion. When does sustenance become self-destructive self-indulgence? As the artist's animated cream-cheese head says, "It's your worst nightmare — you're battling your primitive self which has a lot more cunning and power than you could ever have imagined." To which Drumgoole replies, "It's delicious!"

(r_rice@citypaper.net)

Jenny Drumgoole: Real Woman of Philadelphia | Jan. 29-March 15, Levy Gallery, Moore College of Art & Design, 2000 Ben Franklin Parkway, 215-965-4027, thegalleriesatmoore.org