Jell-O shots

Lurking deep in the subconscious of every inhabitant of San Francisco is the certainty that one day the 'Big One' - a devastating earthquake - will lay waste to the city. One resident of the Bay Area, the artist Liz Hickok, has subverted the terrible possibilities of Californian geology into a mere whimsical fancy with a series of scale models of San Francisco made from the medium of jelly - known as 'Jell-O' in America. Hickok draws the observer into her works with uplighting that transforms the jelly buildings into a "jewel-like mosaic of colour and volume". But the childhood dessert is utterly unpredictable - and like the cityscapes they represent - ephemeral. Photographs (such as Palace of Fine Arts, 2006, above) are all that survive of these all-too-perishable buildings, but Hickok often creates short-lived installations on shaking tables - an effective way of bringing home the secret fear of every San Franciscan.

Tim Edwards