‘Barbecue’ art installation is a feast for the eyes

Art. Barbecue. To some connoisseurs, there’s no issue here. A great serving of barbecue is a work of art. Case closed.

But as Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn writes, there are some 50,000 reasons to go see an art exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth dedicated to smoked meats. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: So what’s the fancy name they’ve come up with for this exhibition?

Daniel Vaughn: Wait for it: “Barbecue.”

I thought as much. That’d send off alarm bells at the Vaughn household. Have you checked it out?

Yeah, I went to see it opening weekend there at the Modern in Fort Worth.

Rebecca Manson, the artist, was there. She was trying to talk to anybody who was going to come by and see it, and was kind enough to sit down and talk about the piece with me as well.

Did she have any samples, or was this all just a feast for the eyes?

She was asking me for recommendations for where to take her family. She was in from New York, where she spent two years putting this exhibit together.

It’s entitled “Barbecue,” but the piece itself is mostly made up of ceramic leaves, individually cast and glazed. There’s 50,000 pieces in the whole thing, and probably 45,000 of them are these leaves. And they’re stacked up in piles in this elliptical room.

It’s really an incredible sight from far away. But you got to get up close if you really want to get the full feel of the piece.

I don’t want to say anything impolite or anything, but what’s a New Yorker know about barbecue?

Well, it’s funny because when I was talking with her, you know, she said that this piece itself is really about a sense of longing – like it’s a sadness of the end of barbecue season.

Her dad uses his Weber kettle grill to cook for the family. She said that’s essentially his kitchen for the summer. She said that the family actually has an award called the “Pig Award,” and whoever is the most sloppy after eating their barbecue gets the Pig Award. It’s a cardboard cutout, and her and her dad usually are the ones who win it.

So, you know, she’s got a deep love of barbecue. And these falling leaves are really a signal of the end of barbecue season. So the piece itself has a little bit of sadness to it.

Did it leave you feeling wistful?

There’s a lot of fun in it, too. Like I said, seeing it from a distance, it really looks impressive – all these different colors and different piles of leaves. You can see how much work went into it.

But when you get up close is really when you get to the fun parts just sort of sprinkled around. It’s almost like a scavenger hunt, finding these little grilled shrimps and beef rib bones and, you know, pieces of chicken.

One of Manson’s friends, also an artist, did these blown glass pieces. Jessica Tsai is her name, and one of them is this, like, perfectly formed, half-eaten chicken wing that is sitting on top of this blooming flower. And I swear, it’s the perfect-size shape. It’s even glistening with sauce. I wanted to reach out and grab it.

A blooming onion. I didn’t even know that was part of the canon.

You know, there’s just all these fun pieces all throughout – like chunks of pineapple and watermelon and onion slices, dill pickle chips… It’s just a really cool piece to go see and experience up close.

“Barbecue” is on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth until Aug. 25.

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