Forced Success

If you were here on Friday, June 6th, you were one of the people who got to enjoy being Force Fed! If you weren't, take a look at everything you missed.



Our first speaker was Rachel Shuman, one of the co-editors of Cai Guo-Qiang/Inopportune: Stage One which can be viewed on the Guggenheim's web site. Rachel spoke on the role of the chinese artist, both in the Guggenheim show and in the world at large, which prompted a very enjoyable conversation about the hows and whys of emerging artists, the decline of censorship in China over the last seven years, and the way this is changing the global art market as a whole.

Rachel also gave us some insight into the editing process of "Cai Guo-Qiang/Inopportune: Stage One", telling us just how much time and footage it took to make the five minute long documentation of the piece. She joked that she was like a surgeon, and we think that's a fair comparison. Be sure to enjoy the finished piece yourself.


After Rachel came our good friend (and current featured artist) Eric LoPresti. Eric had plenty to say about his current show Force Against Force. The relationship between the two sides of every image, the formal aspect of painting, the challenge of the abstract vs the real, even the decisions made in graphing out the pieces and the importance of color and how it affects us in the day-to-day world, Eric gave us a terrifying amount of information in a calm, soothing way. Appropriate, huh? Force Against Force runs until June 15th, and the artist will be in attendance all day. Be sure to stop by and congratulate him on his successful show!



Our chef for the night was Conor Yates, who brought us an organic dinner that was absolutely wonderful. Conor is a student of the slow food movement, and filled us in on how he and his fellow chefs are working to counteract the fast food lifestyle many of us have accidentally chosen. We learned about the role of raw food, cooking without fats and oils, and the importance of grass-fed meats and using local farms. The meal ended with a fruit and chocolate fondue, thanks to the nice people at Divine Chocolates. They're a Fair Trade chocolate company, so there's no worry that you're not doing your part. Plus they taste SO GOOD.

It was a great night and we enjoyed having everyone. If you couldn't make it, keep an eye on our calendar, because you've just got to make the next one. It's not the same without you here!