Pictures of Chocolate, 1997, Private Collection @ SAMA

Image: Vik Muniz, Action Photo II, After Hans Namuth (from Pictures of Chocolate), 1997, Private Collection.

The exhibition features the work of four conceptual artists who use chocolate as a source material for making photographs. Participating artists are Frederic Lebain, Priscilla Monge, Vik Muniz, and Chuck Ramirez. Lebain creates monochromatic chocolate colored still life photographs by spray-painting obsolete technology objects with chocolate and photographing them against chocolate-colored backgrounds.

He lives and works in Paris, France. Monge is a conceptual photographer who photographs food as a point of departure for discourse on social issues. Her photos feature Catholic images made of chocolate, references to spiritual hunger and the mass marketing of religion. Monge lives and works in Costa Rica. Muniz has received international acclaim for his “Pictures of Chocolate.” In this series, he replicates well-known imagery in chocolate syrup, painted over a light box.

The syrup painting is photographed before the chocolate can melt and subsequently printed large scale. Muniz is Brazilian and lives and works in New York City. Ramirez works in a photographic style derived from commercial advertising to investigate social, economic, and identity issues.

His recent series of empty chocolate boxes calls attention to desire and gluttony, while also pointing to economic disparities revealed in the brand of chocolate one consumes. Ramirez lives and works in San Antonio, Texas.

The exhibition is curated by David S. Rubin, The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art. It will open during FotoSeptiembre, San Antonio’s annual month-long program of photography exhibitions throughout the city.