Heidi Ross

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Artist statement

Although my artistic production eludes classification, I would describe it as relational, sensory, and having the effect of immediacy: bringing one into direct and instant involvement with a concept or object. I'm interested in reimagining the way people interact with and consume food in a gallery setting, and challenging the sacredness of the gallery display and experience. The evolution of my work as an artist is a return to self. From the time I was young, I made objects and maintained a creative practice; foraging, refining, sculpting, sensuousness, silliness, and play are through-lines in my work. For most of my professional life, as a working artist, I cooked in top restaurants, working entirely in function and aesthetic. When I was laid off from restaurant work in 2020 due to Covid, I began to use my knowledge of food and cooking techniques to explore more abstract concepts and to materialize subconscious feelings and forms. Even though Fluxus popularized food as an artistic medium, it's still rarely exhibited or eaten in a gallery as a work of art. Eating is a way we return to our bodies, it’s essential and ritualistic, and it’s also a profoundly creative act with oneself and others. My work, like my Fluxus fore-parents, uses literal digestion and taste to explore the metaphorical digestion and embodiment of ideas, the transformation of things. For this reason I'm especially drawn to making sounds (sound art) with food, embodiment aesthetics, and poetic exploration...

Artwork