“Consume” is a performance created in response to a series of academic conversations that discuss the boundaries that separate the practices of high and low art. Using familiar objects that represent the home, I performed and hosted a dinner party where the use of these objects stood in for craft and other low-art constructs, while simultaneously referencing high art through the literal placement of the performance within the gallery.

A wood dining table sat in the middle of the room; atop the table was a white lace tablecloth, a jug, three bowls, and a pair of large, gold gardening shears. On one end, two holes were cut out of the tabletop, which I stood inside; the cutouts were just big enough to reach my upper thighs as I stood tall, resting my feet upon a red velvet pillow. Around the table were three chairs, each with a soft, mauve-colored cushion that matched portions of a strip of wallpaper that ran across three of the gallery walls. Also on the walls were two gold-colored candlesticks that hung on either side of an oval picture frame. The candles were lit and flickering.

I stood nude, legs inside the table, with a large bushel of faux pubic hair that protruded from my body and lay across the table. The chairs filled and emptied with guests at random intervals as I groomed and served my hair; using the shears to cut pieces from my bush, I placed the hair trimmings into their bowls and followed up by pouring milk from my jug.

Through physical interactions and the exchange of fixed looks, the guests and I shared in a 90-minute, non-verbal dinner party, bridging gallery and home, art and reality.