Gather round the table for a scrumptious family dinner, each dish lovingly sourced from artists’ memories and fantasies. Throughout their residency at Summertime, New York-based collective YAI Arts exchanged secret recipes, reminisced about childhood, told familial fables, and dwelled on what makes a house a home. 

Their experiences inform this immersive exhibition, a hot pink 1970s dining room all dressed up for an indulgent evening of shrimp cocktail, escargot, baked potatoes, and pineapple ham, sculpted from papier-mache and recycled materials. Make sure to save room for dessert, because there’s lots of cake, jello, and whipped cream. 

Sense memories guided the artists throughout their creative process. Here’s a taste of what home sounds, smells, and looks like to them:

Exhibiting Artists: Everette Ball, Larry Willoughby Jr., Leroy Pettaway, Christine Buda, Christopher Chronopoulos, Mallory Perry, Diogeneis Costa, Brian Dyer, Lauren McArthur, Jennifer Quinones, Oswald Saenz, Priscilla Frank, Tayloe Schinz-Devico and Jimmy Tucker. 

The exhibition culminated in a real live dinner party at the legendary Panna II Garden, where all fourteen artists from YAI Arts celebrated their accomplishments around a very long (and very narrow) dinner table.

Each artist invited a guest who they consider family. This group, made up of artists, blood relatives, childhood friends, roommates and an imaginary anime friend or two, came together to break bread. This ritual was a tribute to the community the artists built during their four month residency at Summertime. 

Curator Jimmy Tucker awarded ketchup and mustard bottle trophies to each artist — like King of Cake with a Slice of Positive Energy to Diogeneis Costa who made the three-tiered cake and Most Optimistic Under the Sea to Christine Buda who made a papier-mache silver fish. Artists made heartfelt toasts thanking one another and speaking to the challenge and payoff of trying something new. Samosas flowed like water!