Author: Jeffrey Allen Price

  • Welcome to The Institute Chronicle

    The Institute Chronicle serves as an ongoing record of exhibitions, collections, research, discoveries, publications, lectures, and activities associated with the Think Potato Institute. Entries include both current developments and historical documentation spanning more than three decades of potato-related art, research, collecting, and public engagement.

  • Revisiting The Dialectical Potato (2024)

    While recently preparing a lecture for the United By Potato Power conference in Cēsis, Latvia, I returned to a paper I had not carefully revisited in many years: The Dialectical Potato: Potato in Art, Art in Potato.

    Originally published in 2003 by Donald Kuspit, the essay was written while I was completing graduate school at Stony Brook University. At the time, I regarded it primarily as an art historical investigation into the appearance of potatoes within art and culture.

    Reading the paper again more than twenty years later was a satisfying experience.

    What I found was not simply an early survey of potato imagery, but the beginnings of ideas that would later become central to my work. Concepts now associated with POTATOISM, Potato Humanities, the Potato Art Spectrum, and the Think Potato Institute were already present in embryonic form throughout the text.

    I was particularly struck by how many of the questions that continue to guide my research today were already visible in those pages. Why does the potato repeatedly emerge as a symbolic object across cultures and historical periods? How can a humble food become a vehicle for mythology, identity, labor, humor, ritual, politics, and artistic expression? Why does the potato seem uniquely capable of sustaining contradictory meanings simultaneously?

    What appeared in 2003 as a graduate school paper now felt more like a foundational document.Revisiting The Dialectical Potato also made me realize that the project remains unfinished. Since its publication, more than two decades of new potato artworks, exhibitions, performances, films, photographs, and cultural artifacts have emerged, while countless historical examples have come to light that I was unaware of at the time. What once appeared to be a finished paper now feels more like the opening chapter of a much larger project—one that I hope to continue through a future publication, POTATOISM: The Global History of Potato Art.

    Related Timeline Entry:

    Related Documentation:

  • Potato TV Sampler (2003)

    Montage of Potato-themed events and performances from Jeffrey Allen Price ca.1996-2003

    Created in 2003, this video predates YouTube and many of the social media platforms that would later become common places for sharing short-form video, and before the Think Potato Institute officially existed, I assembled this “Potato TV Sampler” for the Tom Green Show. (I was asked by the producer to submit a reel for possible guest appearance on the show). The video is a chaotic montage of potato-themed performances, festivals, music, games, and experiments spanning roughly 1996–2003.

    Background music by J.A.P. and the Blues Spuds band covering Neil Young’s “T-bone” (Got mashed potatoes/ain’t got no t-bone). Features segments include:
    “Potato Gun Shot from 5 Feet”, 2003
    “I Like Potato and Potato Likes Me”, 2003
    “Potato Stratego”, 2003
    “POTATOLAB”, 2002
    “Emergency PotatoFete”, 2001
    “Think Potato Festivals II and III, 1998-99”
    and more.

  • Hyperallergic Reviews Dennis Oppenheim Homage Exhibition

    Potato Auto-Portrait (2004) at Valentine Gallery May 24, 2014

    “Potato Auto-Portrait (carved in 2004-photo taken November 28, 2012)”
    dried potato
    dim. var. approx. 3 x 2 x 1.25 inches
    ©Jeffrey Allen Price

    My sculpture Potato Auto-Portrait was included in a review of the Dennis Oppenheim homage exhibition published by Hyperallergic.

    The reviewer wrote:

    “There is a third self-portrait in the show, along with Becket’s and Oppenheim’s, by Jeffrey Allen Price. A former assistant to Oppenheim, Price made his comic-Picassoid ‘Potato Auto-Portrait’ (carved in 2004), as the title states, ten years ago, and it has been shrinking ever since; consequently, this piece is also moving, albeit at a glacial pace.”

    One of the stranger qualities of working with potatoes as an artistic medium is that the artwork continues to transform long after it is completed.

    Read the full review here:

    Homage to Absurdity: The Restless Legacy of Dennis Oppenheim— Hyperallergic

  • Unpacking My Potato Collection

    Potato Project Room:  Unpacking My Potato Collection

    artifacts, ephemera and recent acquisitions

    An Exhibition by Jeffrey Allen Price

    The Islip Art Museum is proud to present a Historical Room exhibition of potato-themed artifacts acquired by artist and curator Jeffrey Allen Price over the last twenty years. His potato collection comprises over 5,000 objects from around the world in a mesmerizingly wide range of objects.  This is an installation in flux as the artist unpacks, catalogs, displays and reorganizes different objects from the collection throughout the duration of the exhibition.

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    The exhibition itself is a work of art–placing antique prints, photos, tools and toys alongside works of art inspired by Price’s own collection.  In a room too small to fully exhibit each and every artifact, much of the Potato Collection remains still safely packed away, displayed in labeled boxes and notebooks. The artist will be present during scheduled office hours and by appointment during the exhibition to guide visitors through the collection and highlight objects not currently on view.

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    Potato Tomes Obelisk (2001–2012), books containing the word “potato” in the title, installation view.

    Price’s Potato Library includes over 500 books, magazines, catalogs and brochures in many languages from around the globe.   Some of these are featured in “Potato Tomes Obelisk” (2001-2012), a tower of books with the ‘potato’ in the title stacked by size and standing like a monument to the full spectrum of potato knowledge–from history to humor and nearly every genre in between.

    Installation view with “I Never Get Tired of Saying Potato”

    A video installation called “I Never Get Tired of Saying Potato,” shows the artist repeating the word ‘potato’ on a screen embedded in a pile of potatoes.  In this humorous work, Price demonstrates his commitment to his subject of study, turning the potato into a mantra, as his own head seems to take on the characteristics of one.

    “Antique Potato Mashers,” from the collection of Jeffrey Allen Price

    Installation view “Unpacking My Potato Collection,” 2012.

    “Potato TV Station,” VHS collection of Potatoes on TV and in movies.

    “Unpacking My Potato Collection” on view during the “Occupying Potato” exhibition in the Islip Art Museum’s main galleries from September 19 – November 18, 2012.

  • The Potato Revolution Exhibition at WAH Center

    The Potato Revolution: Cult of Potato 2011 was an international exhibition of contemporary potato art organized and installed by Jeffrey Allen Price at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center (WAH Center) in Brooklyn, New York, from October 7 through November 20, 2011.

    The exhibition featured a wide variety of potato-themed works by twenty artists from around the world. Presented in the WAH Center’s upstairs gallery, the exhibition included photographs, paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and video works exploring the potato as both subject matter and cultural symbol.

    The historic building’s first floor was transformed into The Potato Revolution Café, an interactive installation featuring hundreds of potato-related artifacts and artworks from Price’s collection, an early manifestation of what would later become the Think Potato Institute. During special event days, the Café served potato-themed treats and beverages, including potato chips and potato vodka.

    On 11.11.11, Price’s band POTATOTRON debuted a selection of original songs and potato-themed cover songs from its forthcoming album, Potato Power.

    Participating Artists:

    Michiel Brink / Ginou Choueiri / Jon Cone and Archie Rand / Adrián Villa Dávila / Anna Alicja Feitzinger / Beth Giacummo / Jean-Louis Gonterre / Allan Innman / Lucy Kippin / Viviane le Courtois / Andrzej Maciejewski / Paul McMahon / Annalisa Nutt / Kitty Owens / Sherry Owens / Jeffrey Allen Price / Italo Scanga / Adam Taye / Chad Woody

  • Potato Excuses I & II (2004)

    I am full of excuses. Here’s a couple of good ones in a 51 second video from 2004. “My Plate is Full!,” and “I’ve Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew!”

  • The Dialectical Potato Accepted for Publication (2002)

    Entering my last semester of graduate work at Stony Brook University, I have just received encouraging news: my paper, The Dialectical Potato: Potato in Art, Art in Potato, has been accepted for publication in Art Criticism thanks to the auspices of Professor Donald Kuspit.

    The paper began with a simple question that had occupied my thoughts for years: Why do potatoes keep appearing in art, and what do these appearances mean? What started as an attempt to chronicle the major appearances of the potato in the work of avant-garde artists gradually expanded into a much larger investigation. The more I researched, the more connections I discovered. Potatoes seemed to emerge everywhere—in mythology, folklore, religion, agriculture, conceptual art, performance, photography, politics, and popular culture. What many people dismiss as an ordinary vegetable increasingly appeared to me as a surprisingly rich cultural symbol.

    For months I immersed myself in the writings of artists, critics, philosophers, anthropologists, and cultural theorists. Ideas from many different disciplines seemed to converge and inform my subject.

    Admittedly, I was a bit nervous presenting such an unconventional topic to my professor, the art critic Donald Kuspit, but his response was enthusiastic. He described the paper as “unique and brilliant,” comments that have encouraged me tremendously. Although many people might consider the potato an unusual subject or symbol for serious inquiry, Kuspit’s remarks make me feel vindicated in pursuing the project. Three semesters studying with Kuspit and engaging the thinkers he introduced undoubtedly helped shape this text.

    The acceptance of The Dialectical Potato in Art Criticism makes me genuinely excited. I put a great deal of effort and creativity into this research, and publication feels like an important milestone. The paper grew out of years of looking at artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Joan Miró, Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke, Jörg Immendorff, Matthew Barney, and many others. What began as a simple observation developed into a broader investigation of the potato as a recurring image, object, and symbol within art and culture.

    The acceptance of this paper by a reputable academic journal gives me confidence to continue pursuing these ideas. For now, I am simply excited to see the article in print and curious to discover where this line of research leads.

    Related Timeline Entry:

    Related Documentation:

  • Spuds Unwrapped

    The Food Network, Television Appearance, April 21, 2002

    Tonight I appeared on Food Network’s Unwrapped as part of a special potato-themed episode called Spuds Unwrapped. Seeing myself on national television talking about potatoes and performing was surreal. Host Marc Summers introduced me as a “Potato Artist” and called me “the potato’s number one fan.”

    The segment featured an installation of my potato collection, potato-themed artworks, and documentation from EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE, a performance organized with fellow graduate students at Stony Brook University. The event had originally been scheduled around a planned Food Network visit in September 2001. Following the events of September 11, it was unclear whether the production would continue at all. The title EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE reflected both that uncertainty and my belief that gathering people together through food, humor, and art felt especially important during that difficult moment.

    During the interview I talked about some of the reasons why I originally became interested in the potato, explaining:

    “I started finding all sorts of connections, anthropological connections, all around the world, folklore dealing with the potato. The global significance of the potato became something for me that I could attach to.”

    I also explained one of my favorite concepts:

    “The potato seems to be this unifying symbol of egalitarianism. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t eat potatoes.”

    The segment ended with Marc Summers holding one of the THINK POTATO t-shirts I had given him and saying:

    “Here’s one of Jeffrey’s works of art. Looks pretty cool.”

    Which made me laugh. Hopefully it might even lead to a few more sales of my potato t-shirt designs online.

    The potato continues to drive me and delight audiences. It has introduced me to people I never would have met, conversations I never would have had, and opportunities I never could have predicted. Tonight’s television appearance feels like the latest chapter in an ongoing project that keeps growing in unexpected directions. What began as a curiosity has somehow become a nationwide conversation

    .Related Timeline Entry:
    • Featured on Food Network’s Spuds Unwrapped (2002)

    Related Documentation:
    • POTATOLAB (2002)
    • EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE (2001)

  • Hainuwele: The Story of a Dema Girl

    October 16, 2001
    The Spot, SUNY Stony Brook, New York

    Last night I performed Hainuwele: The Story of a Dema Girl at The Spot as part of a drag performance event.

    The work was inspired by an Indonesian myth about a mysterious girl named Hainuwele. In the version of the story I encountered, Hainuwele possessed the unusual ability to pull useful objects from her anal cavity. The people around her became jealous of her gifts and eventually murdered her, chopping her body into pieces and burying them in the earth. From those buried remains grew cultivated plants and tubers, transforming Hainuwele into an agricultural ancestor whose death gave rise to food and culture.

    For the performance I wore a dress sewn from burlap and a long blonde wig. Combined with my long beard, the overall effect was something like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and a witch doctor. Hidden beneath the dress was a large cavity constructed from a plastic pumpkin. The pumpkin functioned as a stand-in for Hainuwele’s anal cavity and remained concealed until the performance began.

    As the Pixies song The Sad Punk blasted through the speakers, I lip-synced and moved across the stage while the lights flashed around me. During the performance I painted the word DEMA across my chest in large red letters.

    At key moments I reached into the hidden cavity and removed a series of objects: toy gold coins, cigarettes, candy, and other small gifts that I tossed into the crowd. These objects referenced the gifts Hainuwele produced in the myth. What begins as a strange miracle in the story eventually becomes the source of envy, violence, and transformation.

    Part of what attracted me to the Pixies song was the repeated scream of:

    “EXTINCTION!”

    The refrain echoed throughout the performance like a warning of what was about to happen. The song shifts between pop melody and violent punk energy, creating an atmosphere that felt unstable and increasingly ominous. Several audience members later described the performance as frightening.

    I was interested in the collision of mythology, drag, agriculture, ritual, humor, violence, and transformation. Hainuwele’s story suggests that food is never simply food. It carries memory, sacrifice, desire, jealousy, death, and renewal.

    For me, Hainuwele was an experiment in bringing an ancient agricultural myth into a contemporary performance setting. Whether the audience understood the myth or not, they were witnessing its central drama unfold: gifts emerging from the body, envy taking hold, and the promise that something new might grow from destruction.

    Hainuwele is often known as “The Coconut Girl” because of her miraculous birth from a coconut blossom. However, the myth ultimately explains the origin of cultivated tubers and other staple food crops, which emerge after her dismembered body is buried in the earth.