As a recovering deli clerk, Ella Weber will share the ideas that fuel her artistic practice behind the counter and beyond in her debut novel, The Deli Diaries. Learn how Weber transforms her seemingly dull environment and day job into her studio while trying to balance art and life, labor and rest, love and loss. Her performative artist lecture will be presented in the form of a Stand-Up Comedy-Microsoft PowerPoint-TED Talk-poetry reading. Weber is a basement-based artist and author working across image, text, comedy, and video. Trained in printmaking, Weber received an MFA from the University of Kansas in 2015. She has attended numerous residencies and exhibited widely. Recent solo shows include exhibitions at Radial Gallery, (Dayton, OH) Munson (Utica, NY), The Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), and Rogers Art Gallery (Las Vegas, NV). a lazy love is on display until May 19, 2024.
The Deli Diaries
Fresh out of art school with a pile of debt and a broken heart, Della moves into her parents’ basement in suburban Nebraska and lands a “temporary” job as a deli clerk. Struggling to smile under the small talk of corporate commands, she contends with mind-numbing 8-hour shifts, bumbling management, ruthless secret shoppers, and a crew of misfit coworkers. Despite the monotonous drudgery, can Della stay true to herself and find creative inspiration in a life behind the counter?
With inimitable quirkiness and fever dream flair, Ella Weber’s debut novel is a hysterical yet heartfelt parody of millennial plight, Midwest mediocrity, overweening artistic ambition, and the inanity of the daily delicatessen grind. As inventive and entertaining as autofiction gets, The Deli Diaries is an unforgettable slice of life unafraid to ask the big questions: Who ham I? What ham I? Where ham I?
Published by Latah Books
