International Cuisine 

Curator: Let’s consider Neiman’s “International Cuisine," an acrylic and mixed-media work. What immediately strikes you? Editor: Well, the canvas is absolutely packed. It's a very active composition. What particularly stands out is the, thick layering of acrylics and the embedded collage elements. I’m curious about how the materiality of this piece relates to its subject. How do you see the materials contributing to its overall message or meaning? Curator: The impasto, that thick layering, is key. It foregrounds the act of painting itself, highlighting the artist's labor, his active construction. The collage elements of newspaper and other printed material - are these discarded recipes? Advertisements? All these refer to the commodification of food, to restaurants, to dining as labor. What does that tell you? Editor: I guess I never really thought about restaurants *as* labor... It brings a new perspective to how the meals that are such a central component to travel and tourism, involve so many unseen human element, but these faces are pretty prominent here. It is like this entire staff staring you down from the canvas. Curator: Precisely! Think about the socio-economic contexts here: Who is working, and who is consuming? How does Neiman use color to differentiate the roles of those working to cook the meal and those being served by that labor? How is this further emphasized with collage ephemera and paint? Editor: It's interesting you point out color and class here because they are not delineated on the faces but mostly from what they wear; and I do wonder what Neiman sought to accomplish. Maybe this juxtaposition serves as a type of societal commentary... I appreciate how looking closely at the materials forces us to consider such tangible questions about value, production, and the art world's, and food's own, inherent systems. Curator: And consider how the very act of making art—the brushstrokes, the layered media—becomes a metaphor for the complex process of constructing ‘cuisine’ itself. These aren't just aesthetic choices but tangible clues to broader social relationships at play. Editor: Absolutely, a full course meal for the mind!