Most of us regard grocery shopping as a chore. It’s part of the routine of our daily lives, not anything to get excited about. 

But the Ulrich Museum of Art’s new exhibition turns groceries into something fresh.  “Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisle” opened last week in the Chris Peulsen Polk Gallery and runs through April.

The collection was organized by Emily Stamey, the museum’s former curator, and the walls of the gallery are lined with works from 16 artists that portray every aspect of grocery shopping, from candy wrappers to lost shopping lists. The result is a thought-provoking attempt to understand our relationship with food in new ways. 

Perhaps we should be using ethnic grocery stores as cultural education, suggests a photograph series by Karyn Oliver titled “ACA Foods Free Library.” The photographs portray books stacked between food products such as gummy bears and white bread. Other pieces seek to entertain, such as “Lost in My Life (Fruit Stickers)” by Rachel Perry Walty, which uses fruit stickers as the medium for a colorful collage.

“It just made sense to develop an exhibition that talks about that part of our culture: when we go to the store, what lists we make, what we buy when we go,” Ulrich Public Relations Manager Teresa Veazey said.

The collection also includes two prints of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s soup can paintings: “Chicken n’ dumplings,” and “Vegetarian Vegetable.” “A La Carte: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers,” a collections of photographs by Hillary Carlip features lost grocery lists and their imagined owners, from an elderly man in a grocery scooter to an adult film star- all portrayed by the artist. 

“Stocked” is just the beginning of the museum’s discussion on our relationship with food. Today, Christin J. Mamiya will give a talk about the history of pop art and consumerism. 

An excursion to local ethnic grocery stores will be led by Chef Tanya Tandoc on Feb. 9, and Stamey will host a panel on the topic of food desserts on March 28.