An exhibition opening this weekend at the Art Gallery of Windsor will be the first presentation in Canada of “&WichTime” by conceptual artist and professor emeritus Iain Baxter&.

The work explores the commercial relationships between art and food through bread.

While an artist-in-residence in Rennes, France in 2008, Baxter& collaborated with a local bakery to create custom-shaped bread for the purpose of performance. Whether surfing on an oversized baguette or golfing with a bread-covered golf club, he proposes new functions for what is one of the most popular food items in the world.

“By transcending the connotations that are associated with bread — economic, ethnographic, cultural or religious — Baxter& singles out the sociability of bread and pokes fun at its universality,” says curator Jaclyn Meloche. “Bread references sharing a meal, eating and the satisfaction of food and the body’s dependence on food for nourishment. But for a single moment in each photograph, bread also references play, and the silliness of playing with your food.”

The show opens Saturday, June 2, and continues through September 30. Learn more on the gallery’s website.

Baxter& also has work on display as part of “Awakening,” an ongoing exhibition at the Lieutenant Governor’s suite in Queen’s Park, Toronto. Green Landscape is made of vacuum-formed plastic. Find more information, including essays and images, on the exhibition website.