Michael Weinstein

Call it childhood fantasy, eroticism or grotesquerie, Robin Assner's series of color shots of male and female bodies slathered with sugary substances like marshmallow fluff, chocolate syrup, chunky peanut butter, glazed cherries and assorted puddings is decidedly tantalizing and ultimately amusing. Sometimes Assner goes so heavy with the toppings that her model dissolves in swirls and pools of butterscotch pudding. On other occasions, the subject shows all her curves and crevices, generously and seductively coated with dollops of viscous confections. Assner even creates a reasonable facsimile of a vagina--or is it intestines?--in her take of interlocking fingers smeared with raspberry syrup. Before our post-feminist era, we would have had to search for hidden subtexts here; now we need only recognize that food is the supreme medium, as scrumptious to take in with the eyes as through the mouth.

Robin Assner shows at Aron Packer Gallery, 118 North Peoria, (312)226-8984, through July 8. (2006-06-06)

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