The menu has just been announced for the walking canapé degustation inspired by the art exhibitions at the 2 Danks Street complex. Tickets are still available, book here: http://www.danksstreetdepotwaterloo.eventbrite.com/
Category “Australian”
As part of the Crave Sydney Food Festival, the Danks Street Depot will be hosting ‘A movable feast celebrating 10 years of art and food’ on October 20th from 7-11pm. 2011 marks a decade since 2 Danks Street’s opening as a space to celebrate great contemporary art and wonderful food. Come and celebrate by attending a roving cocktail party specially created by Jared Ingersoll. Pick up your passport at the door and wander from gallery to gallery for a walking canapé degustation inspired by each exhibition.
In the most basic sense, Egg and cauliflower still life by George Lambert is a study in texture. The bulging florets of cauliflower are offset by the smooth shell of the egg. In a memorable dish, the combination of texture is just as important as the fusion of flavour. Taking a cue from Lambert’s textural investigation, the recipe for pan-fried buttered cauliflower with a poached egg seeks to maintain the differences in texture in the resulting dish. By roughly chopping the cauliflower into a range of sizes, the contrast in shape allows the smaller fragments to become dark and crispy while the larger florets maintain their form and become soft to the tooth. The almonds add a bit more crunch and the poached egg provides a luxuriously smooth sauce. Cobbled together in less that twenty minutes, the dish works equally well as the centerpiece of a weekend brunch or a quick weeknight meal.
George Lambert, Egg and cauliflower still life, 1926
oil on canvas, 34.3 x 44.1 cm, Art Gallery of South Australia
The name ‘still life’, when referring to the genre, was derived from the French nature morte, which literally translates to dead nature. The irony is not lost that a still life, depicting the nourishing foods that maintain life, is cast in a substance that simultaneously preserves food and prevents growth – thus embodying both life and death. Consumption and environmental decline are issues at the forefront of the work with the salt highlighting the death of the ecosystem from which the groundwater is pumped. The salt sculptures with their ghostly pallor and the effervescent fleeting ice forms embody the transient nature of the organic products. Through modern farming practices, shallow rooted plants replace native vegetation enabling the dissolved salts stored in the ground to rise and contaminate water systems on the surface. The result is saline water, demonstrating the way both water and salt are intrinsically linked. Through the Yonetani’s work, the need for a conscious awareness of where food is sourced and how its consumption effects the environment is reinforced. 
Ken + Julia Yonetani, Still Life: The Food Bowl, 2011, Murray River salt,* dimensions variable (all objects life size), Copyright the Artists and Artereal Gallery, Sydney
* All the salt in this work was obtained from SunSalt, and originates from the Buronga Salt Interception Scheme on the Murray River.
Currently on view at Brenda May Gallery is a curated group exhibition titled Art + Humour Me featuring the works of twenty Australian contemporary artists. In addition to a cardigan-wearing tree, the show includes artworks in a range of mediums from sculpture to video and naturally I was drawn to the three cast resin jelly mold sculptures by Janet Tavener (pictured below). For a serious laugh or at the very least a bit of a giggle visit Art + Humour Me on view at Brenda May Gallery (2 Danks St., Waterloo), on view until 7 May 2011.
I am very excited to announce that I will be curating an art + food exhibition next year at Brenda May Gallery. We are now accepting proposals from artists so please read the exhibition outline below and contact the Gallery with any questions or visit the submissions page for further details.
‘Art + Food – Beyond the Still Life’ – October 2012
This exhibition will consider the representation of food within the visual arts and beyond the standard still life tableaux. The consumption of food is a universally shared experience, enabling viewers to connect with the issues surrounding consumerism, food production and cultural identity, explored by the artists. ‘Art + Food – Beyond the Still Life’ will be on exhibition during the Sydney International Food Festival.
Proposals for this show must be received by Friday 27 July, 2012.
Janet Tavener, Baby Blue No 3, 2011
coloured resin, 12 x 12 x 12 cm, Brenda May Gallery
In a few months my next food/art exhibition will be held at Brenda May Gallery. Be sure to 'like' the Facebook... http://t.co/t3trh22iP5
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