Cody Tumblin

Today's Special

May 6 - Jun 24, 2017

mild climate presents Today’s Special, the gallery's second solo exhibition from Nashville-based artist Cody Tumblin. Today's Special centers around food-based community programming, and incorporates new ceramic and textile-based work from Tumblin.

You haven’t experienced True Love until you let someone cook for you. Let someone tell you how they love you with a little bit of salt, olive oil, and rosemary and you’ll see what I mean. It could do you some good. I mean have you ever tasted a perfectly ripe, perfectly caramelized fried plantain? Have you ever ripped open a fresh round of sourdough to find steamy ghosts of desire haunting your olfactory senses? I truly believe that when Dante pierces the skin of the universe and looks upon the Love that moves the earth and stars, he was gazing into a deep bowl of warm tomato soup with a sprig of fresh basil on top.

It’s a lot like learning anything, really. Cooking is a little awkward at first, but it’s honest work. A few burns, grease fires, and a couple years of overcooking chicken can actually teach you the deeper mysteries of life. Just grab a few things you like and boil them, fry them, bake them. Little by little you’ll find small miracles. A pinch of sugar to ease the acidity of a ripe tomato, a drizzle of honey to tenderize a hunk of meat, and a single bay leaf (what the hell is a bayleaf really?) can teach your chicken noodle soup a mighty trick.

The “meal” shouldn’t be a desperate grab for what leftover stillness we have in our busy lives. “Comfort Food” isn’t fried chicken and green beans at a Cracker Barrel, it’s sharing that last can of pinto beans in your pantry with someone because you happen to have half an onion and some tortillas lying around. Haven’t you ever read Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul? When you’re down on your luck and you’ve got nobody around to love you, try putting a little bit of butter, sugar, and cinnamon on a stale biscuit and broil at 400 for 3 minutes. Your heart just might soar, if even for a moment.

Today’s Special is whatever you’ve got left in the fridge, whatever you’ve got the energy to put together in a pan or a pot at the end of long day. Today is Special because it’s you, me, and a plate of something good between us.

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Born and raised in Tennessee.
Cody Tumblin currently lives and works in Nashville, TN.
He is a person and he likes things.

507C HAGAN ST, NASHVILLE, TN / WEDGEWOOD/HOUSTON ARTS DISTRICT

tnmildclimate@gmail.com