I am excited to be included on the Design*Sponge website as part of the ‘In the kitchen with…’ series. Hopefully the short description I sent with the recipe will tempt you to visit the Design*Sponge page to take a look at the pear tart with whiskey cream.

Combining the ingredients in Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #2 was a natural marriage; the dark molasses flavours of the whiskey complement the subtle sweetness of the pear with the toasty hints in the liquor mirrored in the toasted hazelnuts of the crust. Cinnamon and ginger continue the warming flavour palette and provides a sharp spiciness to the tart — the perfect foil to the cooling whiskey cream, speckled with vanilla seeds.

– Megan Fizell, Design*Sponge (2011)
Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #2 (1962), oil and collage on board, 121.9 x 122.2 cm, Norton Simon Museum

The American Pop artist, Tom Wesselmann, was concerned with consumerism during the postwar era and created a distinct collage style of found art collage. He began working with images from magazines and posters but as his work increased in scale, he looked skyward to acquire used billboard signs. Wesselmann disliked his inclusion in the Pop Art movement because he was less concerned with critiquing  aspects of consumerism and instead focused on the aesthetic use of the everyday. A number of elements in Still Life #2 (1962) have been cut and pasted including the bouquet of flowers in the center of the frame.

Click here to view the pear tart with whiskey cream recipe on Design*Sponge.