Monday nights are often quiet in the Glebe, but the OZ Kafe at 361 Elgin St. was crowded with over 250 artists, art admirers, and pizza lovers who stopped in to see the Pizza Art Show on May 11.
The show was curated by local Ottawa comedian and Carleton graduate Greg Houston, who gathered his artistic friends to each make an art piece inspired by his favourite food—pizza.
“It’s serious, but considering that it’s a pizza art show, it has some humour,” Houston said.
“I’m not a visual artist in any regard,” he said. “I don’t know much about art, but I know about pizza.”
After reaching out to more than 20 painters, illustrators, abstract artists, multi-media artists, stitchwork artists, and wood artists, the walls of OZ Kafe were decorated with a variety of pizza-inspired art pieces.
“The cool thing about it is that everyone has had a pizza experience,” said contributing artist Cristin Price.
“There’s a memory attached to pizza for everybody. It’s a universal food. You can interpret it in so many different ways,” Price said.
Kaylie Seaver used the pizza theme as a drooping pizza portrait with toppings structured as facial features.
“Zattawa”, a piece by artist Tyler Roy, was designed to be more than just a slice of pizza.
“I’ve taken a design and illustrative approach with my piece. Geographically, that is the natural form of Ottawa. It basically looks like [a] heart, but you can bend it into a pizza,” Roy said.
Artist Marc Adornato used a baseboard with a handful of nuts and bolts to make a decorative wood pizza.
“It’s a really good event. The pizza theme is amazing,” guest Cyk Simon said. “I was so curious, I had to come.”
The pizza art pieces will be showcased and available for purchase at OZ Kafe until the first week of June.
