Like Sugar

Installation view, Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum, 2019

Emily Eveleth, Big Pink, 2016, oil on canvas, 78 x 60 inches, courtesy of the artist and Danese/Corey, New York

Installation view, Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum, 2019

Laurie Simmons, Walking Cake II, 1989, Cibachrome print, 11 ¾ x 7 7/8 inches, Tang Teaching Museum collection, gift of Eileen and Michael Cohen, 2018.1.17

Top: A Sugar Cane Field and Refinery, 19th century, stereoscopic image, Keystone Viewing Company
Bottom: Preparing Cane Blocks for Replanting, St. Kitts, 19th century, stereoscopic image, Keystone Viewing Company

Installation view, Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum, 2019

Bushra Junaid, Two Pretty Girls, 2016, archival photograph and archival text printed on backlit fabric panel, 35 ¼ x 69 5/8 inches, courtesy of the artist

Advertisements by Sugar Information Inc. and Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix in Ladies Home Journal and Life (1959–1970)

Zineb Sedira, Sugar Silo I & II, 2014, C-Type, 63 x 78 ¾ inches, courtesy of the artist and The Third Line, Dubai

Installation view, Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum, 2019

Julia Jacquette, Two Tiered Cookie Platter, 1997, enamel on wood panel, 23 x 23 inches, courtesy of the artist

Julie Stewart, Title Unknown, digital photograph, courtesy of the artist

Sugar dish, late 19th century, Derby Silver Co., silver-plated copper, 9 ½ x 7 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, Tang Teaching Museum collection, 1995.10

Our taste for sweetness is a powerful force. It is one of the foundations of empires; of slavery; of ecological devastation; and of modern health epidemics and food injustice. Even knowing this, we love it. Flowers and fruits seduce birds and insects with their nectars; for human beings, sugar starts as cane, beets, or corn, and people have harvested and manipulated and packaged it to suit consumers’ fancies. We continually construct and reconstruct its meanings. Like Sugar will explore both the problematic and the joyful aspects of sugar, complicating our view of how this multi-layered substance affects us. Through artwork by contemporary artists such as Vik Muniz, Julia Jacquette, Zineb Sedira, Laurie Simmons, and others; historical materials such as maps, prints, and books; and material culture such as cane-cutting tools and sugar dishes, the show will raise questions and provide a space for dialogue about sugar in our lives.

Explore Like Sugar through the lens of mathematics with the specially designed Math Trail developed for this exhibition by Flannery Denny, an educational consultant with 15 years of math teaching experience. The Like Sugar Math Trail is designed to engage our mathematical thinking and connect math to real world issues and experiences. The Like Sugar Math Trail is available at the Tang’s Visitor Services Desk in the museum’s atrium.

Like Sugar is co-organized by Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator, and Sarah Goodwin, Professor of English, Skidmore College; with Skidmore faculty Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Associate Professor Environmental Studies; Trish Lyell, Teaching Professor of Art; and Monica Raveret Richter, Associate Professor of Biology. The exhibition is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Friends of the Tang.

A birthday cake with lit candles and pink frosted flowers and piping stands on a pair of legs wearing high heels against a black background.

Laurie Simmons
Walking Cake II, 1989
cibachrome print on Kodak paper

Bushra Junaid
Two Pretty Girls, 2016
archival photograph and archival text printed on backlit fabric panel

Exhibition Name

Like Sugar

Exhibition Type

Faculty Curated

Group Exhibitions

Place

Malloy Wing

Dates

Feb 9, 2019 - Jun 23, 2019

Curators

Like Sugar is organized by Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator, and Sarah Goodwin, Professor of English, Skidmore College; with Skidmore faculty Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies; Trish Lyell, Teaching Professor of Art; and Monica Raveret Richter, Associate Professor of Biology.

Artists

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Sharon Core, Will Cotton, Tim Davis, Emily Eveleth, Jessica Halonen, Knute Heldner, Julia Jacquette, Bushra Junaid, Marilyn Minter, Vik Muniz, Garnett Puett, Mel Ramos, Becca Rea-Holloway, Zineb Sedira, Laurie Simmons, Kara Walker