Lecture: Contemporary Art and Food

Setting the Table: Contemporary Art and Food

In conjunction with our special exhibition, Reimagining Nature: Dalí’s Floral Fantasies, and using Salvador Dalí’s depictions of edible botanicals as a starting point, Lesley A. Wolff, PhD, will explore how contemporary artists have used food and the conviviality of eating in their work. She will consider how artists literally and conceptually “set the table” for viewers, inviting questions about identity and community as they navigate current trends and historical complexities embedded in dining and gastronomy. The artists discussed will include Annalee Davis, Elia Alba, Tessa Mars and Dylan Miner.      

Location: The Dalí Museum’s Will Raymund Theater or live on YouTube (link below)

Register to attend in person at the link below. This event is free, with limited capacity. An event ticket is required for entry. Gallery access is not included.

To watch the live stream from home, click below at the time of the program:

Lesley A. Wolff, PhD

Dr. Lesley A. Wolff is Assistant Professor of Art and Design at the University of Tampa. Wolff’s scholarship engages the intersections of visual culture and foodways in 20th and 21st century Mexico, the Caribbean, and the US. Her work has appeared in numerous international publications. Most recently, she co-edited the volume Nourish and Resist: Food and Feminisms in Contemporary Global Caribbean Art (Yale University Press 2024) as well as the special journal issue of Arts dedicated to “Rethinking Contemporary Latin American Art.” Her single-authored book, Culinary Palettes: The Visuality of Food in Postrevolutionary Mexican Art,is forthcoming in early 2025 from the University of Texas Press. Wolff is also an active curator and her next exhibition, a solo show of work by Tampa Bay artist and writer Camilo Loaiza Bonilla, will take place at the Scarfone/Hartley Gallery in Fall 2025. For more: lesleywolff.com