Bad Taste: Edward Cabral & Nick Van Zanten

Edward Cabral’s sculptures utilize the aesthetics of industrially processed foods to highlight their importance to American culture and identity. Using a combination of raw materials and the food itself, he pulls from his fabrication background to produce highly crafted objects that fragment the viewer’s expectations. His artwork is meant to blurs the line between industrially processed and industrial goods, and allow humor to be the point of entry for a critique on our contemporary foodways.

Nick Van Zanten’s ‘Formfit’ assemblages are entanglements of sewn “paintings,” garments, and their display stands.  Born out of an attraction to gaudy synthetic fabrics, from which he began to make himself clothes, they are designed to evoke a desiring gaze, and their physical form – soft, puffy, and (partly) wearable – begs to be held and touched.  Yet they are also abject, being made of cheap fabric, reminiscent of outdated aesthetics, and most often lying unworn.  The ‘Formfits’ are repellant and a bit embarrassing even as they draw you in.

Edward Cabral (b. Indiana, 1987) received his BA in VCS from The School of the Art Institute in 2011. He has appeared on the TEDx stage, Food Network, Windy City Live, and recently presented at the 2018 Society of N American Goldsmiths Conference in Portland OR. His work has been exhibited in across the United States primarily in New York and Chicago, as well as in Mexico City and in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has been featured on Yahoo News, Huffington Post, and Bad at Sports.

Nick Van Zanten (b. Chicago, 1988) received his BFA from Pratt Institute and his MFA from UIC.  He has been a resident at VCCA, Yaddo, and the Wassaic Project, and exhibited throughout the country, including at Fjord, Philadelphia, Shoot the Lobster, New York, and Paris London Hong Kong here in Chicago, and appeared in print in Art in America and New American Paintings.