THE CURATOR: Fake sugar and Sugarhouse

Art-geek extraordinaire Courtney Sexton presents a weekly selection of Philly's must-see gallery exhibits. This week: Giant cans of pink soda at Napoleon, "Hands On" prints at Projects, and the darker side of Sugarhouse at Crane Arts.

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THE CURATOR: Fake sugar and Sugarhouse

POSTED: Friday, February 10, 2012, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Critical Mass The Curator

“Tasty: An Installation by Leslie Friedman” at Napoleon

Speaking of diet soda and excess, Leslie Friedman’s latest installation at the Napoleon art space addresses the allure of the saccharine taste of artificiality. Napoleon, opened this summer by its 10 members, is one of several spaces that have recently opened on the same block of North 11th Street that’s home to stalwarts like Vox Populi, Grizzly Grizzly and Marginal Utility, making the somewhat grimy street even more of a draw on First Fridays.

With its electric colors and alluring shine, “Tasty” is an awesome homage to Pop Art – oversized cans of Coke Zero take over the floor of the gallery, spilling out hot-pink plastic liquids. Scattered among the cans are giant packages of Truvia, Splenda, and Sweet ‘N’ Low, and hanging from the ceiling is a Warhol-esque triptych of a wide-eyed woman’s open mouth getting more of that pink liquid poured into it from a shiny can of substitute … something. “If we fulfill our greatest needs for sustenance and gratification with substitutes, at what point do we become artificial versions of our own species?” asks Friedman. Yum?

Through Feb. 24, free, Napoleon, 319 N. 11th St., napoleonnapoleon.com

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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