Cake as Art
Taide ja kakut näyttäytyvät minulle samanlaisina: ihanina, pehmeinä ja houkuttelevina. Niiden äärellä voin uppoutua mietiskelemään suuria asioita. Ilman kakkuja ja taidetta elämä olisi yhtä harmaata pötköä. Kakku on taiteen kuva, ja se edustaa minulle iloista ja leikillistä elämänasennetta, avoimuutta, taitoa nähdä ja kokea kauneutta sekä nauttia pienistä asioista. Olen ristinyt filosofian kakkuismiksi. Se tekee joka päivästä luksusta. Kakkuismin avulla pääsen halutessani pakoon arkipäivää Queen of Lalalandin, Kakkujen Kuningattaren roolissa. Hänen elämänsä on aina marengin keveää.”
Mari Jarva-Yeo on Taideteollisen korkeakoulun taidekasvatuksen osaston maisteriopiskelija.
Hän on tehnyt kokeellisia, keittiötaiteeksi luokittelemiaan töitä vuodesta 2002. Jarva-Yeon teokset ovat käsittäneet niin installaatioita, valokuvia, veistoksia kuin performansseja.
Mari Jarva-Yeon lopputyönäyttelyssä Myymälä2.ssa on esillä puisia kakkuveistoksia, joita voisi tarkastella hänen kakkuismi-filosofiansa ikoneina, sekä dokumenttivalokuvia, jotka liittyvät hänen pseudotieteelliseen tutkimukseensa International Cake Projectiin (ICP). Lisäksi galleriassa järjestetään kokeellisia leipomistyöpajoja, joissa vieraille tarjoutuu mahdollisuus päästä käsiksi taikinaan taiteen tarkastelun ohella.
Cake as Art
Im for Cake Art, since my view on art is sweet and mellow. Cakes spice up my day and so does art. Cakes and art are the two things in life that arent deadly serious. Actually theyre quite the opposite: as light and fluffy as whipped cream, as sticky and colourful as fudge and strawberry jam, and as festive, tempting and luxurious as marbled chocolate frosting.
For me a cake is not only something I put into my mouth. It represents for me a particular aesthetic attitude to life characterized by playfulness, openness and spontaneity, going merrily with the flow and being able to see beauty everywhere. The philosophy behind it is Cakeism, which is the great art of living.
I also love cakes simply because, superficially, they seem vain and useless. I mean you could easily live without them. But perhaps then, just doing the things necessary for your survival, you would be sick and bored most of the time and your life would feel like plain duty. There has to be something extra to life. Thats why Im for art and cakes and silly things. They serve as an escape from adulthood and the trials of life, and sometimes as a means to turn myself into the Queen of Lalaland, the noble Queen of Cakes whose life is always sweet and lovely.
Mari Jarva-Yeo is a student of The University of Art and Design Helsinki majoring in art education. Shes been experimenting with her kitchen art since 2002 and the body her of work is primarily based on installation shots and performances. As a distinctive part of food art, Jarva-Yeos kitchen art stresses the process, the fun and depth of the art-making that precedes the resulting artefact. As the artist herself puts it:
For me baking as a process is capable of creating a meaningful approach to life. As soon as I get my hands on some warm and soothing dough I remember to live a whole life. As an art educator I see baking as a meaningful learning activity comparable with more traditional ways of making art.
Jarva-Yeos Master of Arts Graduation Exhibition in Myymälä2 consists of a display of wooden cake sculptures that can be considered icons of her philosophy, documentary cake photographs taken throughout her two-year-long pseudo-scientific research International Cake Project (ICP), and free experimental baking workshops for the gallery visitors.