Thursday, April 9, 2009
Tuna Tar Tar Tacos at Details Mini Bar & Lounge
Ginger is meant to cleanse the palate while enjoying sushi, not hide the taste of what you are eating. Herein lays the essence of what was wrong with the Tuna Tar Tar Tacos at Details Mini Bar & Lounge. Rumors of a last chance to try the heavily promoted take on the Mexican classic prompted a visit to Details for the Tuesday special, $5 Tacos during the half-priced drink Happy Hour. Tuna Tar Tar, avocado, pickled scallions and ginger surrounded by a slightly chewy, crisp shell had the air of conceptual brilliance. Unfortunately the genius found in the inspiration did not translate into the execution. In this case, less would have been more. The shells, though fried perfectly, were overly seasoned, providing the mouth with an unwelcome blast of sodium. Tainted by another heavy hand, the stuffing of the tacos had enough ginger to effectively cleanse the palate of almost all tuna taste. Good sushi is a celebration of bare visual aesthetics and taste, a good taco has roots in simple street food. The fusion tacos of Details, though busy, nail the visual test. But in losing their simplicity in an attempt to be uncommon, they miss the goal of simply being good food.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
New Wexner Exhibit
The galleries at the Wexner Center for the Arts are featuring a meditation on interaction with art. The three installations though separate in conception and medium, pull together to take the viewer on a journey through the ways art can be experienced.
Robin Rhode’s Catch Air is the artist’s playful, photographed interaction with his crude chalk drawing of everyday objects on the sides of buildings and city streets. He is acting the part of anyone who ever imagined themselves as part of a piece of art, interacting and playing with works traditionally off-limits to human touch.
On an entirely different level of interaction is Beyond the Blue, a celebration of the work of the architecture firm Coop Himmel(B)lau. Award winning designs, photographs of their buildings (including the addition to the Akron Art Museum) and three dimensional models provide insight into the firms work in adding to and redefining spaces built for human usage.
The ultimate machine used by every person is of course the human body, the star of William Forsythe’s Transfigurations. The instillation of videos and interactive computer programs allows Forsythe to highlight ways he is using the human body to explore new ways of artistic presentation through various medium. Included in the exhibition was the limited run premier of his latest work Monster Partitur, a hybrid sculpture and dance performance that twists the human body and skeleton into almost unrecognizable contortions.
On the surface, the instillations have nothing in common. Yet individually and as a collection each encourages the viewer to think about how we interact with art. We are reminded that art is often fun, it can be functional and it is always a way for an artist express meaning without ever having to say a word.
Robin Rhode’s Catch Air is the artist’s playful, photographed interaction with his crude chalk drawing of everyday objects on the sides of buildings and city streets. He is acting the part of anyone who ever imagined themselves as part of a piece of art, interacting and playing with works traditionally off-limits to human touch.
On an entirely different level of interaction is Beyond the Blue, a celebration of the work of the architecture firm Coop Himmel(B)lau. Award winning designs, photographs of their buildings (including the addition to the Akron Art Museum) and three dimensional models provide insight into the firms work in adding to and redefining spaces built for human usage.
The ultimate machine used by every person is of course the human body, the star of William Forsythe’s Transfigurations. The instillation of videos and interactive computer programs allows Forsythe to highlight ways he is using the human body to explore new ways of artistic presentation through various medium. Included in the exhibition was the limited run premier of his latest work Monster Partitur, a hybrid sculpture and dance performance that twists the human body and skeleton into almost unrecognizable contortions.
On the surface, the instillations have nothing in common. Yet individually and as a collection each encourages the viewer to think about how we interact with art. We are reminded that art is often fun, it can be functional and it is always a way for an artist express meaning without ever having to say a word.
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