Closing Reception and Artist Talk: Aug 30, 5 – 6:30pm
In NOURISHing, artist Craig Cully explores the ambivalent relationship we have with livestock meant for market. As the title suggests, Cully considers the paradox of nurturing livestock to, in the end, slaughter for our own nourishment. The paintings are a culmination of Cully’s extensive examination of “farm to table/feeding to eating.” His investigation, embarked on over the past year, looks at the ethical and political ramifications of the industrial meat complex in a climate where popular culture encourages vegetarianism all while global livestock consumption has increased by 5 – 6% in the past few decades.
The paintings physically embody a dichotomy of desire and disgust through formal painting cues. As the subjects move through the industrial cycle the paintings become further removed from representation. In this manner, Cully’s works contemplate empathy, sympathy, and attachment. The work reflects the physical transformation of the animal and the perceptual shift of humans in this symbiotic relationship of caregiving and consumption.
Cully’s work has been featured in gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the United States and is part of the permanent collection of The Boise Museum of Art, The Tucson Museum of Art, The University of Arizona Museum of Art, the University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma, and the Museum of Art at Texas Tech University. Currently, he is represented by the Etherton Gallery in Tucson, AZ, the Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, TN, the Stewart Gallery in Boise, ID, and the Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, PA.
This exhibition is supported by the Dr. Joseph F. Gross Endowment, Lionel Rombach Endowment, and the University of Arizona School of Art.