Philadelphia Weekly

The camera focuses on a man's face from the nose down. It's covered with marshmallow fluff. For the next five minutes, viewers watch the tongue futilely attempt to reach the white goo. The surrounding skin becomes unbearably wet, sticky and irritated, yet the tongue soldiers on, straining for swaths of white glop.

The artist Joe Nanashe says the piece was inspired by witnessing a group of diminutive, partying sorority girls scarf down greasy meat sandwiches. "It seemed unnatural, like watching a snake unhinge its jaw to gorge, a drunk snake with a thong sticking out the back of its low-cut jeans. It's an image simultaneously sickening and sexual."

This dichotomy is on display at "Yummy: A Celebration of Craving, Compulsion and Culture" at Nexus. Jennie Thwing, co-curator of the exhibit, was interested in exploring this ambiguous space, "where you can't really figure out the cross between delicious and disgusting." After walking around the show for a while, Thwing thinks "there's something beautiful�--and then you get this feeling of disgust and you're not really sure why. I think the show might not have been successful if that disgust was so apparent."

Many pieces speak to this invisible line and explore the concepts of the eater and the provider, commercialism and community, and the glee and gluttony associated with food.

Ari Richter fashions two mating pigs out of crumbled pork rinds. Susanna Raab's photograph of an overflowing trash can at a state fair depicts what she calls the "detritus of our consumption." Local artist Rebecca Gilbert's detailed print chickens on delicate paper cubes are a "silent tribute to the birds that briefly live in cages on the sidewalk across from my house," at the Italian Market's live poultry butcher.

In Naomi Leibowitz's Tasting Rachael Ray we see, over and over again, more than 30 clips of Ray where she takes a bite, pauses, closes her eyes, tilts her head and moans with pleasure. It gives new meaning to the show's title.

Jamin London Tinsel's $40 a Day evokes an unsettling, visceral reaction. A video displays a dozen people in white jumpsuits feeding at a larval-looking ceramic sculpture filled with chocolate milk and fitted with bottle nipples. The orgiastic suckling boldly reinforces just how deeply Americans believe in the unspoken boundaries of personal space at mealtime. This piece, like eating Ethiopian food, is a stark reminder that� communal gorging in America feels naughty and exotic.

For all the works that expose the dark side of "Yummy," there are many that are charming, precious and nostalgic. Faye Anderson's meticulous quilts document the meal-making process. Local artist Brandy Agnew's Good and Clean is a cozy, fuzzy tower of crocheted woolen cupcakes that feels both comforting and over-the-top.

If Agnes Martin were to work in cinnamon Trident, the result would be Este Lewis' photograph of a minimalist grid of familiar red rectangles.

Thu Tran has created a spectacular handmade set and hosts a madcap, endearing Pee-Wee Playhouse-esque cooking show, complete with puppets and fanciful recipes. In one scene she makes ROYGBIV deviled eggs. And what can you use to make violet filling? Why, a tablespoon of pulverized unicorn hooves, of course.

The celebration continues through Feb. 1 with quirky and well-considered events, including a casserole potluck, a film screening with the Coalition Against Hunger and a closing party featuring cake and milk served from an artist's wedding dress.

"Yummy: A Celebration of Craving, Compulsion and Culture."Free. Through Feb. 1. Nexus, 137 N. Second St. 215.684.1946. www.nexusphiladelphia.org