Cig Harvey: FEAST | Robert Mann Gallery
Harvey Midnight Feast © Robert Mann Gallery
Written by Makenna Karas
Photo Edited by Kelly Woodyard
“Look at this. Experience this. Feel this. The pictures say that time is the only currency.” says British photographer Cig Harvey about her latest exhibition, “FEAST.” On display at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York from February 10th through April 5th, the collection asks that you step inside of it with a mind that is open to the peculiar. It is there, Harvey argues, that we can begin to access the secrets that reside with the story of an image.
Harvey Compost & Cake © Robert Mann Gallery
When you look at “Cherry Cake, Rockport, Maine,” your mind begins to craft narratives to ascribe to the surreal imagery before you. The stark juxtaposition of the dark swamp with the neon red cherries in brilliant white frosting is so beautifully bizarre that you can’t help but want to know more. There is an element of secrecy and temptation latent in the scene. If the box lid was shut, the image would lose all trace of the cake, keeping it like a secret behind closed doors. Instead, it is propped open like an open casket, a parallel perhaps suggestive of the death of surreal imagination and play that accompanies societal norms.
Harvey Cherry Cake © Robert Mann Gallery
Continuing to push back against norms is “The Midnight Feast,” with its outrageously vibrant tablescape of colorful, mutilated fruit. We are used to viewing images of perfectly set tables for dinner parties. We are used to viewing the before rather than the after. Harvey is interested in the after. It is there, she reveals, that we can find secrets lurking in the aftermath of life. Something has happened, and we want to know more. She is also fascinated with primal moments, a point of interest evident within the chaotic nature of the spread. There is something purely human about making a mess, about staining white cloth, and breaking order. When out in the world, we learn to control our primal instincts for chaos to fit into society. The title “The Midnight Feast” suggests the hours in which we revert to that primal state. The image is saturated in the carnivalesque freedom of those hours.
Harvey Apple Trees (Last Light) © Robert Mann Gallery
In contrast, “The Banquet, Camden, Maine” presents a far more polished tablescape. Still, not one fails to utterly entrench you in its magnetism. Interested in engaging the senses and catalyzing the sensation of experiencing something rare, the image evokes both hunger and curiosity. The table is neatly arranged, yet the candles drip wax haphazardly, suggesting ephemerality and the invariable fleetingness of the scene. The cakes add layers to the temporary nature of the shot, for Harvey often inserts them into her images as symbols of time and mortality. They are small and sweet, reminiscent of the kind a loved one would bake for an intimate gathering. Something is haunting yet comforting about the unique combination of themes and evocation of senses that this exhibit boasts. Each image successfully pushes the bounds of normality while simultaneously maintaining a touch of universal nostalgia.
Harvey The Banquet © Robert Mann Gallery
