LeBrie Rich’s solo show at Nine Gallery immediately brings to mind the magic of childhood. I feel a bittersweet longing for simpler times as I encounter many of my favorite snack foods in the form of larger-than-life hand-felted sculptures. There’s even snack-themed furniture: two footstools—one of a gigantic ice cream sandwich, and the other in the unmistakable shape of a Nutter Butter cookie—as well as a Cheez-It chair.
In addition to the chair, Rich created an oversized Cheez-It wall sculpture, approximately 12 x 12 inches, and rendered meticulously in various layers of bright orange felt. In both works, the artist includes areas that look lightly browned and bubbled from baking, as well as flecks of salt, for authenticity. Elevated to the level of fine art objects, these sculptures still evoke the nostalgia of the original snack. I can almost taste that sharp, processed cheddar infusing those flaky, crunchy layers, and it brings me back to a time when this sort of cheese was more present in my life.
My parents divorced when I was four. This led to some minor but understandable attachment issues, and I was fairly skeptical of babysitters. That all changed with Heidi. She was smart, self-assured, and kind. She never made me go to bed on time and we always ate Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for dinner. Preparing the boxed pasta together became our ritual, and I would forget my anxiety over my parents’ absence. To this day, the flavor of that powdered cheese—which no other manufacturer has matched in intensity and deliciousness—still brings me immense comfort and joy. Cheez-Its elicit similar feelings and I can’t help but think that the common denominator is processed cheese.
As an adult, I realize that the preservatives and other unintelligible ingredients that make up this cheese are probably taking years off my life, but I still reach for that blue and yellow box. As a child, I was blissfully unaware of this nutritional lack, or that my favorite meal was simply a product churned out in high volume by a major corporation. Now that I know, it’s difficult to reconcile these more depressing realities with the strong emotional connection that remains.
Rich addresses this paradox, explaining that a Cheez-It “isn’t just mass-produced junk food; it’s a time travel device to core memories.” We can’t help but identify with what we consume in a capitalist system, but Rich’s work offers an alternative for more meaningful engagement with these products. By devoting extensive time and labor to recreating these mass-produced crackers and cookies in felt, the artist creates more space for a thoughtful examination of our relationship with these foods and the memories they evoke.
LeBrie Rich: Crackers (& Cookies)
Nine Gallery, Portland, OR
April 3 – 26, 2025