Ms. Puett sees the refrigerator as just as valid a territory for thoughtful arrangement as any other part of the house. "It's a really fun game," she said. "It makes moving through the banalities of life stimulating."
- Artist J. Morgan Puett, quoted in the New York Times












I think that's going a little overboard.
Here's a piece of art in my refrigerator:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/2543513380/
And I think this refrigerator is a work of art:
http://homeappliances.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/gaggenaus-ik-300302-refrigerator-and-freezer/
view art's profile
This is insane. Clearly J. Morgan Puett has too much time on her hands. But then again, it is a good excuse to get a glass front refrigerator.
view Comicgeek's profile
I appreciate the beauty of those photos - but the day I start "artfully arranging" the shelves of my refrigerator they may just have to take me away.
view blackbird's profile
i don't know...we create vignettes all over the rest of the house out of our functional items, why not inside the fridge? we certainly do it in our fruit bowls and on our pantry shelves. (are the people who empty their bulk grains and pastas and legumes into glass jars that they line up on a shelf and then admire not copping to "thoughtful arrangement"?)
we also do it on our bookcases, and in our bathrooms, with our shoes by the door, etc. what makes the fridge different? the only thing that would bug me about is if you ruined food in the process, i.e. how long can the above chicken leg go unwrapped?
i do like the idea out of storing my refrigerated leftovers in beautiful glass, and i don't mind the idea of being as careful with my food's display when i'm not eating it as when i am. we certainly don't mind the idea when we're inside an expensive grocery store - isn't that wholefoods' whole shtick?
view lindsey kathlene's profile
I confess I derive joy from opening the fridge to a nicely arranged collection of delicious eats.
view Katie in Berkeley's profile
If you have a refrigerator that is large enough to artfully arrange, it's too big for your needs and probably wasting energy.
This feels like the possible beginning of a whole new level of potential snobbishness. First you have the people who are wealthy enough to buy more space than they absolutely need who can show off acres of tasteful (ultra minimalist) blankness. Now, you need to also have a half empty refrigerator that you can artfully arrange?
If you have that much empty space in your life, your place is too big for your possessions and you're heating or cooling inefficiently. I don't think people need to be crammed into every corner of their storage space and living space, but they also don't need to show off lots of nothingness so they can arrange a few items artistically.
view Orchid64's profile
with all due respect to busy people above, i have seen the inside of refrigerators artfully arranged to several purposes.
an older friend, who was raised in Germany and England, always puts a tiny vase of flowers, very small, in the center of her fridge. this little surprise helps her keep her fridge from becoming 'duty,' and remaining 'nourishment.' i now do the same.
one beautiful arrangement i saw helped me, as a vegan. grapes, pesto, green pasta, washed lettuces, and crudites were interspersed to create a green and healthy wonderland inside the fridge, a clearer path to freshness and health. i have begun arranging by colour, at least. it didn't take much time, just a slight shift.
view avianmission's profile
Many artists find ways to challenge us to think differently about things that have become utilitarian or the status quo.
Some artists concern themselves with political ideas or ideas about identity which have become too readily accepted.
But why not rethink personal and domestic spaces and everyday routines as well? I love the photo of the fridge that you posted above. It reminds me of old dutch still lifes with wild game, and of the eccentric Mrs. Havisham's preserved wedding cake in Dickens. It's crazy, in a wonderful way, to think that a fridge could serve as a vitrine or Victorian display case.
view sarahbest's profile
My inside-refrigerator art consists of various dried spills and oddly shaped mold growth.
view Shawn's profile
This photo speaks to my heart. I open my fridge many times during the day, and each is a different visual experience. I have been know to arrange the fridge...working towards a zen experience. Then again in reality the fridge is a box in our lives, that bombards us (in our personal space) with brands and commercial messages. So I love this fridge which eliminates all of that and goes for color, shape and space.
view Greengrassbluesky's profile