If the world became too ordered, melted ice cream and spilt cup noodles can be garnish graffitied architecture.

EC’s Art Gallery exhibit, “Architecture Digested” showcases works related to architecture created by local and national artists. The architecture itself did not represent structural buildings, but architecture where the mind can go to a different place.

“The food and graffiti function as a correction, a humanization of the architecture’s hard-edged geometry,” Los Angeles based artist, Sandra Low said.

The exhibit was inspired by a black and white photo series of model buildings set in nature by Robert Hite, a New York based artist.

The show is concerned with how artists perceive the world and manifest their observations into a work of art.

“In this case, they’ve assimilated their thoughts about architecture and turned them into something personal,” Art Director Susanna Meiers said.

Notably, Margaret Nowling’s works are intimate contemplations that require the viewer to observe closely.

Reliquary is a cathartic shrine which “was a way of reconciling her feelings” about her brother’s death from a drug overdose in 2002. The shrine has doors, if the viewer chooses to open, it reveals aspects of Nowling’s relationship to her brother.

Similarly, Michael Miller’s Observe, the great staircase that dominates the gallery, is an interactive piece. To him, the architecture is merely a means to convey art.

“[The staircase] is just a staircase, not an art piece,” Miller said. “The art is something that occurs when the audience experiences the stairs. Art is a verb not a noun. It is an active engagement.”

In Observe, when someone stands on the stairs that person becomes the focal point of the experience.

“I wanted that person not only to realize that they are on a heightened point of view but that people are observing them,” Miller said. “The stairs gives the audience power to make a decision about engaging or not engaging.”

From opening doors to a dark tragedy to just a simple staircase, these artists are taking art to the next level.

“I am very impressed. The curation – the choice of art work and the placement of the works is phenomenal,” artist Lawrence Garcia said. “This is beyond just a college level exhibition.”