▲ The Fox and the Grapes, Mixed media on canvas, 153.5x126cm, 2023 ⓒ Nic Dyer

American painter Nic Dyer holds a solo exhibition 'Hungry, Hungry' in Korea about eating disorders.

Nic is a contemporary artist currently based in Hudson Valley, New York. She metaphorically incorporates into her work the autobiographical story of an eating disorder she suffered as a child from an obsessive diet and wrong body image.

She began suffering from an eating disorder at the tender age of 11 under the influence of her mother, who strictly controls her weight and diet. While receiving treatment to end her physical and mental pain, she realized that she was defining her food as evil.

▲ The Snake and the Apple, Mixed media on canvas, 101.7x76.4cm, 2023 ⓒ Nic Dyer

Based on these experiences, the artist became interested in certain fables that linked food to evil, deception, temptation, or moral depravity. She reinterpreted stories pointing to food craving behavior, such as 'Adam and Eve' and 'Fox and Grape', in her original visual language.

The artist argues that most of the stories of overeating and appetite in children's literature have delivered negative messages with disastrous results. She says that the false values of food formed as a child continue to this day, as fairy tales of the past have been handed down to this day.

▲ The Pig in His House Made of Books, Mixed media on canvas, 122x117.5cm, 2023 ⓒ Nic Dyer

In the exhibition, Nic created a scene in the fairy tale by vividly embodying various foods and animals on one screen, inspired by 14th-century Dutch still-life and Renaissance paintings. Additionally, creating a food model made of mixed media in a collage, reflected disordered eating habits and obsession with food.

The artist explores the false obsession with food formed in childhood through honest reflection on her personal experiences and conveys the creative process she chose as a way out to the audience. She doesn't stop at accusing the trauma of her childhood but uses it as a new inspiration to overcome the pain of reality.

▲ The Hungry, Hungry Catgerpillar, Mixed media on canvas, 92x97.5cm, 2023 ⓒ Nic Dyer'Hungry, Hungry', the exhibition name, was taken from the fairy tale book, 'The hungry, Hungry, Caterpillar'. The fairy tale depicts a Caterpillar, who wakes up from its egg, and cocoon, and escapes into a beautiful butterfly after eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, and pizza because it's hungry. Unlike other fairy tales about food, she experienced emotional self-healing in the fairy tale book, which depicts the process of consuming food for a strong and healthy body.

The artist hopes that through the exhibition, the audience will heal their physical and mental pain and be reborn as their original form, just as a fairy tale caterpillar transforms into a healthy and beautiful butterfly.

The exhibition will be held until Jan. 7 next year at the Gana Art Nineone in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com