Artist Don Stahlke began using food as a medium four years ago. At first he used a tattooing machine to inscribe tiny images on fresh produce. As the fruit rotted and dried, the tattooed images–animals, skulls, family portraits–shrunk and acquired the mysterious quality of petroglyphs. In a gallery exhibit two years ago Stahlke showed the fruit alongside miniature etchings on cats’ and dogs’ teeth.
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His latest pieces, however, have moved away from the themes of decay and impermanence, dealing instead with preservation and plenty. With “Cornucopias: Work on Food and of Food,” currently on view at the Aron Packer Gallery, Stahlke has captured in ceramic and cast iron a wide range of comestibles at their peak of freshness–fruits, vegetables, steaks, turkeys, cheeses, and breads. Many bear drawings of domestic scenes; all are destined never to wither or fade.
When he returned to Chicago, Stahlke took a job waiting tables at a Lincoln Park restaurant: “Now I’m constantly surrounded by food again!”
