“Food, glorious food! Hot sausage and mustard! While we’re in the
mood — cold jelly and custard!” Thus rhapsodized the orphan-boy
chorus (including youngsters Davy Jones and Phil Collins) in the 1960
musical Oliver! Bay Areans are foodies, so this gastronomically
themed exhibit of seventy works by forty artists might strike a
responsive chord — and even send you off later to fortify the
local economy and your inner man or woman.

There’s something for every appetite here. For something
comfortingly satisfying and realistic, Cheryl Cruz‘s “Cupcake
Gold” or Barbara Pollak‘s “Cheesecake” and “Pumpkin Pie” should
do nicely. Celso Dalisay‘s stylized “A Sweet for the Sweet” and
“Ice Cream Dreams” swathe dessert-eating with youthful glamor, while
Diana Blackwell‘s ironically entitled “Beer — It’s Not
Just for Breakfast Anymore” does a similar office for problem drinking,
and Pouke Halpern‘s abstract “Glasses All Full” makes toppled
party glassware look positively elegant. Chuck Mitchell‘s color
photos of squashes suggest postprandial activities of a more boisterous
sort.

Some of the artists treat eating (once described as poking organic
matter into a hole in one’s head) in a more sardonic, earthy way.
J.C. Garrett‘s severed head in “Pig” and Audrey
Hodtwalker‘s tripedal chicken in “Three Piece Meal” speak for
themselves. Polly Mania‘s “I Eat Therefore I Am” and Charles
Lucke‘s “Pepper Mouth” relocate human eyes and mouths onto squishy,
mordant edibles, and Andy B. Clarkson‘s enigmatic
“Confrontational” juxtaposes a grimacing masked face with a contorted
hand. Maya Samuels‘ rapacious vulture in “Scavenger” reminds us
that sometimes we eaters get eaten when things go awry, and Michelle
Waters‘ prey-animal’s revenge feast in “What’s for Dinner?” makes
this “To Serve Man” inversion explicit. Similarly strange scenarios
unfold in Robert Connett‘s surrealistic underwater “Planet
Calamari,” Barbara Rockhold‘s ant-infested intestines in
“Running Amok,” and Gary Comoglio‘s mushroom-sprouting seated
figure in “The Thinker.”

Some of the artists see eating as a metaphor for human relations.
The heroine of Aunia Kahn‘s “Riveted Precursor” finds an
indigestible meal of leftover chain links and saw blades. Alicia
DeBrincat refers to the objectifying male gaze in her symbolic
portrait “Cute Little Thing,” and Laurel Nathanson‘s “Candy
Dress” and “Plaid Party Dress #6” look back at girlhood with mixed
pleasure and pain. Not to be forgotten are Jason Mecier‘s
portraits of Rachael Ray and Condoleezza Rice converted to rice grains,
beans, and other foods. Vegetable/fruit-carving demonstration by Jimmy
Zhang, local art chef, April 26, 3-5 p.m. Eat It! runs through
April 26 at Eclectix (10082 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito).
510-364-7261 or Eclectix.com.