Mobile Register, 2005
18 years ago Jesse Lee Arnold was going around Alabama robbing banks wearing one of my classic Think Potato T-Shirts. He was eventually caught and served 12 years in prison. This bank security camera photo was sent to me by The Mobile Register (they even called to interview me about this! Ha ha ha).
A brand-new version of our film in-progress THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO, is currently on view at the Islip Art Museum in the exhibition “Collaboration.” There is an Artist Reception, August 3 from 1-3pm. Thank you to my collaborator Juan Lopez Espantaleon for all the great work on this project so far, and for the installation photo. Also, a huge gratitude to the 100+ participants that have given their beautiful faces and unique languages and accents to this project. I hope you some of you can attend the reception Saturday.
The Art of Collaboration curated by Holly Gordon
ISLIP ART MUSEUM
at Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY 11730
On view thru August 24, 2019.
Museum hours:
Tuesday through Friday 10am – 4pm
Saturday 12pm – 4pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
→ THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)
I was featured on Episode 45 of the Dream a Little Dream podcast, hosted by Jessie Taylor. Titled Through The Eyes Of The Potato, the hour-long conversation explored potato art, POTATOISM, the Think Potato Institute, collecting, exhibitions, and the cultural life of the potato.
Special thanks to Jessie Taylor for the thoughtful conversation and for helping spread the potato message.
You can listen to the episode here: https://player.fm/series/dream-a-little-dream?v=1781570281
Update: The podcast is no longer actively maintained and the original audio is currently unavailable. Fortunately, this screenshot survives as documentation of the episode’s existence and release.
Today I dismantled my JamaicaFlux installations after a rewarding three-month run. I am deeply grateful to curator Heng-Gil Han for the opportunity to participate and for producing such an outstanding catalog documenting the exhibition. Shown here are the eight pages dedicated to my projects, along with the catalog cover and expanded flaps.
Congratulations to all of the artists who participated. It was a pleasure getting to know your work and to see the remarkable range of projects represented in the publication.
Special thanks to Juan López Espantaleón and Dom Sindayiganza, whose photographs greatly enhanced the presentation of my work in the catalog. I would also like to thank co-curator Kalia Brooks and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning for their support, generosity, and commitment to making Jamaica Flux such a meaningful experience.
While the installations have now been dismantled, the ideas, relationships, documentation, and projects that emerged from the residency continue to grow.
We always learn something new about potatoes when we film.
During a recording session for THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO at Suffolk County Community College, participants shared potato folk remedies and traditions from around the world. We heard about using the steam from boiling potatoes to help relieve colds (Russia), potato slices for skincare and facial treatments (Jordan), and even potatoes reportedly used as diaphragms for birth control (Colombia).
It was a fun and productive day of filming with participants from Russia, Pakistan, Colombia, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, and the United States. Every recording session added new stories, new languages, and new perspectives to the growing archive.
Thanks to everyone who participated and to Camila De La Pava for the photograph.
→ THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO (2016–Present)
→ THIS IS HOW I SAY POTATO 2016 – TPI Timeline Entry
Potato Auto-Portrait (2004) at Valentine Gallery May 24, 2014
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
Many thanks to Irina Zadov and Abraham Epton for making Long Island the final stop on their remarkable cross-country Open Feast journey. It was a pleasure to share stories, potatoes, and conversation with such generous travelers and new friends.
Special thanks as well to Viviane Le Courtois for helping connect our potato worlds and inspiring another communal potato gathering.
As Irina taught us, the potato is known in Belarus as бульба (bul’ba), a word that seems particularly fitting after an evening spent celebrating food, friendship, and cultural exchange around a shared table.
Wishing Irina and Abraham safe travels on their next adventures in Belarus and beyond. Grateful that Open Feast inspired another memorable Occupy Potato event and many new connections.
Peace, love, and potatoes.
Very excited to unveil my THINK POTATO INSTITUTE this weekend in Riverhead, NY during the Harvest Festival. On view, 15 years of collecting potato-themed art and artifacts from around the world, with some of my own potato art also on display. Sat. & Sun. 10/9-10/10, 10am-4pm, with a Reception and Artist Talk Sat. 10/16 from 2-4pm. Located at 127 E. Main St. Riverhead, NY.
Today I am beginning my two-month Artist-in-Residence program at the East End Arts Council in Riverhead, New York.
Over the next several weeks I will be presenting a number of potato-related projects, including Resident Potato, an exhibition in the Carriage House Gallery; Spuds Unplugged, a performance for the Composers Forum; and an Artist Talk and Reception.
Most exciting of all, I will be unveiling The THINK POTATO INSTITUTE on Main Street in three weeks. For two days in October, a vacant storefront in downtown Riverhead will be transformed into a temporary headquarters for TPI.
I am now officially a Resident Potato.
Please stop in if you are in the neighborhood and say hello.
Jeffrey Allen Price
September 17th – November 14th
Carriage House Exhibition (2nd Floor)
October 14th – November 14th
October 16th
5:30–8:00 PM
Special Installation and Event on Main Street
October 9th & 10th
10:00 AM–4:00 PM
Composers Forum Performance
November 16th
7:30 PM
East End Arts Council, 133 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901
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 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
→ Featured on Food Network’s Spuds Unwrapped (2002)
→ POTATOLAB (2002)
→ EMERGENCY PÖTATOFÊTE (2001)