Red Stripe Kitchen, 1967-72, Martha Rosler

Go check out the Martha Rosler exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. It’s always a delight to see a fabulous feminist artist who is not only still making relevant work but also completely ahead of her time when looking back on older works.

The exhibition focuses on 2 major works, House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home executed between 1967-1972 and House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home, New Series from 2004-2008. View them on Rosler’s website because they’re quite devastating to see from a country that has erased war images so thoroughly from our news coverage.

There are also a few videos set on low screens with headphones and couches for viewing. The absolute highlight of the show for me was A Budding Gourmet from 1974, which could have come straight out of a foodie magazine today with such great quotes as “will enhance me as a human being”, “make eating into an experience”, “Delicious and exotic (on food in South America)”, and “The Indians are very spiritual”.

It’s almost as if Rosler foresaw the explosion of both eating as morality in 21st century America and the fetishization of “other” cultures which white guys then “elevate”. How many times have you heard that phrase on the ol’ Top Chef Master Chef Pok Pok circuit when referring to the food that women of color typically cook?

Martha Rosler: Below the Surface runs through July 4 at the Seattle Art Museum.