Feasting on Art

Sometimes the lack of a complicated recipe puts a block on all of my writing efforts. I wonder if it is necessary to share a sandwich recipe so simple that essentially it reads, bread, butter and cucumber – assemble. These dainty finger sandwiches were first made by my friend Mel who lined them up on their edges to make a pattern of bread, bread, butter, cucumber, bread, bread, butter, cucumber…. The combination of fragrant butter and crunchy sour cucumbers was utter perfection. So simple yet so satisfying. I added flakes of sea salt to my sandwiches to give a bit more texture and found that if made in the evening and stored in the fridge overnight, become even better the next day.

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Cucumbers and Tomatoes Together with a Knife and other Kitchen Utensils upon a Wooden Table, 35.5 x 48cm, oil on canvas, Private collection

Read the rest of this entry »

Green is one of the most abundant colors; there are greens in every imaginable shade and tone throughout the world’s natural landscapes. From green algae to rainforest canopies, green permeates and dominates in its diversity. Individual greens are often blurred as countless plants merge into a color field, many overlapping green leaves forming the density of forests or millions of blades blending to become a sports field’s smooth surface. The simultaneous layering and highlighting that is seen in nature can be compared to the artwork of Jonathan Monk, who’s layering of meaning and medium fuse together history, critique, and technique. Monk’s 2002 work, Green with hidden Noise combines a single solid swath of green painted roughly on a white wall with a slide projection focused directly atop this patch of color. The circular projection itself appears to depict a green scene: a forest of trees? The composition is green on green.

Jonathan Monk, Green with hidden Noise, 2002,
slide installation and wall painting, image courtesy Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe and Berlin

Read the rest of this entry »

Chili, garlic, lime and coriander; these four flavours crop up in my recipes more often than not. When combined, they yield a dish that is flavoursome and bright, and can be applied to almost anything. This recipe for roasted pumpkin first appeared on my Christmas table a couple of years ago, and it produced so much enthusiasm that it has become a standard side-dish for many dinner parties. The recipe is obscenely easy and as a side dish, the flavours work year round and can accompany a range of mains from beef to pork and shellfish.

Only 9 more days to submit an entry to the Feasting on Art Recipe Contest. Show some love for Feasting on Art and enter if you haven’t done so already! Also, the concept for Feasting on Art is in the running for a recipe redesign contest at GOOD so please hop on over and click ‘Megan Fizell’ to vote.

François Bonvin, Still life with a Pumpkin, Peaches and a Silver Goblet on a Table Top, 1858
oil on canvas, 38 x 46cm, Private collection

Read the rest of this entry »

When considering the colour green, there are a number of connotations that are promptly conjured; green is the colour of money and wealth, through which one can become ‘green with jealously.’ Likewise, it is the colour of nature, growth, and life and one can have a ‘green thumb.’ It is within the secret green porcelain of China, called mi se meaning ‘mysterious colour’, that the two connotations of the colour intersect. Mi se was produced in the 9th and 10th centuries in China and was reserved for only the Emperor to see – let alone use – and the porcelain was so secretive that first verified example was not discovered until 1987. The porcelain was more valuable than gold and silver although its popularity ‘stemmed partly from the Chinese tendency to mythologise art, in order to appreciate it better (1).’ The green colour of mi se was derived from a small amount of iron in the glaze and the porcelain itself was obtained from nature. Mi se ‘comes from the mountains – from their earth and their forests. The wood was used for firing…and the clay was used for the body of the porcelain. But the two together – as wood ash and kaolin – were also used for the glaze that makes up its delicate skin and jade-like colour (2).’ This green porcelain of the earth represented the pureness of nature yet was an elusive commodity that embodied the wealth and power of the Chinese elite.

Lin Fengmian, Still Life, 1988
ink and colour on paper, 68.3 x 68.3 cm, Private collection

Read the rest of this entry »

The colour orange has always been one of warning used for it’s eye-catching qualities to delineate danger. The pigment was produced through a difficult process of grinding down madder, the pink root of a small bush. Madder is often used to make ‘rose madder genuine’ watercolor paint but when used as a dye, a rich shade of orange-red will emerge when a bit of alum is added to the bath (1). The dependence on the natural madder pigment did not end until 1869 when the specific chemical that causes the red-orange coloration was replicated in a formula. Over the past 30 years there has been a small revival within the industry to relearn the techniques associated with natural dye production.

Margaret Preston, Still life: fruit (Amhem Land motif), 1941
oil on canvas, 43 x 53.3 cm, National Gallery of Australia

Read the rest of this entry »