April 2 – May 9, 2015
UNIX Gallery presents The Foodhist Temple, a sanctuary of food sculptures by artist Peter Anton. The solo exhibition is on view at UNIX Gallery, 532 W 24th St. New York, NY, from April 2 – May 9, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 2, 2015 from 6 – 8 PM
Peter Anton is known for his uncanny ability to create art that can lure, charm, tease, disarm and surprise. He uses new sculpture techniques and materials to alter and overstate foods to give them new, delicious meanings. Anton employs humor, scale, irony, and intensity to make foods aesthetically pleasing and seductive in atypical ways. Viewers are faced with concepts of necessity and desire, stimulated by his subject matter.
Peter Anton Dawning Assortment, 2014, Mixed Media, 48 x 36 x 10 in. | 122 x 91 x 25 cm.] “The temple will be a place of meditation, peace, and happiness – a shrine devoted to the celebration of food and life,” says Anton, whose larger-than-life, mixed-media sculptures of delectable sweets and savory foods will be displayed at various altars stationed throughout the gallery. Pillows and rugs will be positioned on the floor. ‘Believers’ can relax, reflect, and achieve a heightened awareness of the importance of food and all of its pleasures. Visitors will be asked to remove their shoes upon entering.
The Foodhist Temple includes Anton’s monumental-sized, hyper-realistic boxes of chocolates, donuts, cakes, pizza, bacon, fried eggs, sushi, and other craved food items. His sculptures are crafted from carefully selected, manipulated materials, including resin, metal, wood, clay, and acrylic and oil paints.
“With heightened color and exaggerated forms, my work promises the unattainable in life: ultimate satisfaction,” says Anton. “Food evokes a sense of well-being and is an important part of the special memories in our lives. I like to create art that can lure, charm, tease, disarm, and surprise. The sensual nature of the works stirs desire, passion, obsession, and indulgence. I activate the hunger people have for the things that give them pleasure.” Anton explores ways to activate the hunger the public has for pleasurable things and forces them to surrender to an innate, universal reverence for that which we consume.
Peter Anton is also known for his 2012 Art Basel Miami installation SUGAR & G0MORRAH. The interactive sculpture was the world’s first art installation where the viewer rode through an exhibition aboard an amusement ride. The immersive exhibition took visitors on an actual roller coaster ride winding and snaking through a destructed city with tumbling pillars, fire and skeletons juxtaposed with larger-than-life sculptures of sugary treats and nearly nude live models.
Peter Anton has exhibited in numerous museums, including a solo show at the Museum Jan van der Togt in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. As well, Anton has participated in group exhibitions at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storrs, Connecticut; the Museum Villa Rot in Burgrieden-Rot, Germany; the Austin Museum of Art in Texas; the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York; the Fresno Metropolitan Museum in California; the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut; the Castellani Art Museum in Niagara, New York; Arcature Fine Art in Palm Beach, Florida; the COPIA Museum in Napa Valley, California.
One of Forbes magazine’s 2014 “artists to watch,” Peter Anton’s work is in numerous private, corporate, and public collections including the collections of President Bill Clinton, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art; Siemens AG; Sir Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony; Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones; the Jordanian Royal Family; architect Lord Norman Foster; Oppenheim Bank; The Blackstone Resort Hotel in Korea; Breitling Watches; Raymond James Financial; candy maker giant Perfetti Van Melle; the Portland Museum of Art; The Dennis Hopper Collection; and Susanne & Wolfgang Porsche.
Peter Anton lives and works in Connecticut.