CODA GALLERY PRESENTS
FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD: THE ART OF DELICIOUS
EXHIBITION: MAY 3-24
OPENING RECEPTION: MAY 3, 5-8 P.M. 

PALM DESERT, CA — Ending its 2018-2019 season with a feast for the eyes, CODA Gallery offers Food Glorious Food: The Art of Delicious, May 3-24. The public is invited to whet their appetites at an opening reception on May 3 from 5 to 8 p.m. in conjunction with El Paseo Art Walk/Palm Desert First Weekend. 

Everyone loves food, perhaps no more so than CODA Gallery artists, who offer us one of life’s great sybaritic pleasures without the need to “exercise away” the calories. And this group show gives us a flavor for the many ways food can be represented. 

California photographer Matthew Carden uses tiny toy figures to transform food into landscapes upon which his subjects recreate. His whimsical images include motorcyclists on green beans, man and horses on corn flakes, and skiers on white frosting. 

California oil painter Daryl Gortner similarly brings smiles to viewers’ faces. So it makes sense that her work elicits joy in visually enticing candy. And because she likes to bend perspectives, she paints her brightly hued treats in glass containers or cellophane wrappers. 

Specializing in raku ceramics, California’s Karen Shapiro could stock your pantry with her faux line of well-known branded packaged foods. Her inventory includes everything from bottled condiments to boxed gelatin to canned pet food. 

Another California ceramicist, Betty Spindler celebrates America’s iconic fare: hot dogs with squirted rows of mustard and other trimmings, popcorn in red-and-white-striped movie cartons, and soft-swirl vanilla ice cream in a wafer cone. 

Veering from the pop-culture spin and style of the foregoing artists, oil painter Alexander Sheversky of Moldova summons up the discipline of classical composition with stemmed cherries in an antique silver bowl, dramatically isolated against a black backdrop. 

Utah artist David Dornan’s cherries, on the other hand, have been spilled onto a tabletop — like sparkling, unmounted gems — making us crave an ice cream sundae to top. His bite-sized lemon tart with a wave of browned meringue could easily masquerade on a tiered tray of pastries. 

Another Utah artist, Silvia Davis sculpts a chocolaty layer cake with an exotic wood “ganache” (and graciously includes a precut wedge ready to serve!). Smaller, colored-wood sweets of various shapes fill to the brim a candy-vending machine. 

It could be said that CODA Gallery is exhibiting good taste as it celebrates another successful season on Palm Desert’s El Paseo shopping, dining, and public art-lined boulevard. 

After more than 30 years in business, CODA remains a vibrant presence on the Coachella Valley’s arts and culture scene and welcomes visitors during normal business hours throughout the summer.