Brooklyn Ball 2010: The Remains (Updated)

Jennifer Rubell, Icons (detail), 2010. Animal and dimensions unknown. Photo: N.J. Caruth/Contemporary Confections.

Last night, the Brooklyn Museum held their annual fundraising gala, the Brooklyn Ball. In previous years, stars such as Kanye West, Marc Jacobs, Kristen Davis, and Linda Evangelista have been the talk of the evening. But this year was all about food celebrities. Chefs Mario Batali and Marcus Samuelsson were just two of the personalities on hand for the main attraction: an edible installation and interactive dinner created by rising food artist Jennifer Rubell.

Jennifer Rubell, Icons (detail), 2010. Rabbits, dimensions unknown. Photo: N.J. Caruth/Contemporary Confections.

Rubell's installation, Icons, was described as "an interactive food journey through the Museum." Cocktail hour included, among other things, drinking paintings, and suspended melting cheese heads. Mounds of beans, potatoes, salad greens, asparagus, and various proteins set atop large plywood boxes comprised the serve-yourself dinner feast. Though I couldn't participate in this (expensive) eating experience, I did get a peak at the remains during the after party. While others were in the lobby sipping cocktails, and breaking open a colossal Warhol piñata filled with Sno Balls, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, other Hostess treats, I was looking at piles of cooked rabbits and mangled pig carcasses in the third-floor Beaux-Arts Court. I heard from a few meat lovers on staff that even they found this scene disturbing (see slideshow), but maybe that was the point.

In a recent panel discussion on gluttony in art, Rubell addressed her use of food as a medium, saying that her work “looks a lot like gluttony" -- a term with “an extreme moral component” -- yet morals around food are not what interest her as an artist. She is drawn to the aesthetic and psychological properties of food. This is what I find most intriguing about Rubell's work and the above images. The remains of dinner were hard to look at, yes, but also oddly hypnotizing. Visit Rubell's website to see more images from Icons.

More on Brooklyn Ball 2010:
Bloomberg
Eater
Eat Me Daily - Part I and II
Hyperallergic
Wall Street Journal
Women's Wear Daily