Feasting on Art

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

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The decadence of the holidays coupled with two weeks of vacation has taken a toll on my palette and appetite. Although there is a definite lack of cream and butter-heavy dishes here in the Southern Hemisphere, the oil and fat of barbecued meats and deep-fried delights had me gravitating towards recipes that were light, clean and nourishing. I have been a long-time glutton for the bright green seaweed salads sold at most take-away sushi shops. This version uses reconstituted wakame seaweed, deep green, salty and earthy. The smallest slick of sesame oil cuts through the rice wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice. The brightness of the acid is balanced with the rich umami flavour of the soy sauce and the subtle heat of the dried chili. To welcome the New Year and revitalise an overwhelmed palette wakame seaweed salad just might become an annual tradition.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳), Toto meisho 東都名所 (Famous Places in Edo) / Omori 大森1830-35, woodblock printed by Kagaya Kichibel (加賀屋), 25.4 x 36.7 cm, The British Museum

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The mix of ordered fruit and a rustic, haphazard crust encapsulates the French term, galette. Typically, the crust is made with plenty of butter so when it is baked, it becomes flaky and extra crusty. In France, a galette can be made either sweet or savoury with ham, eggs and cheese, otherwise known as a galette complète. The galette des Rois is eaten on January 6, the Christian feast of Epiphany. To celebrate, a small trinket is hidden in the cake and the finder is named the ‘king’ for the remainder of the day. My galette is made sweet by a fragrant mixture of honey and wine that is first used to make the apples heady and boozy and then reduced to give the cake a beautiful glacé finish.

John Francis, Still Life with Yellow Apples, 1858
oil on canvas, 64.1 x 76.8 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts

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After a beautiful weekend in the Upper Peninsula visiting my mother’s side of the family we have returned to the humidity of the Lower Peninsula with a bucket of wild blackberries in tow. My aunt and uncle know of all the best berry picking locations and while I was asleep in my bed, my parents joined them for some early morning picking. I did do a tiny bit of thimbleberry picking (pictured below) and I  sat through the 7 hour car ride home thinking about what to make. It is too hot to bake and I just made a batch of jam so I settled on a frozen dessert. I seem to be a creature of habit – the last post I did about Raphaelle Peale was a recipe for orange & lemon ice cream and exactly one year ago I posted a recipe for a frozen watermelon margarita. For another cold treat check out my post about coconut milk ice cream.

Raphaelle Peale, Blackberries, c.1813
oil on wood panel, 18.4 x 26 cm, de Young Fine Art Museum

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Every December disappears in a blink. Between holiday dinners and various projects, my time management skills are seriously tested. That is why I love the idea of brunch – combining meals to save time! I put together this little menu featuring fruity breakfast recipes inspired by Post-Impressionist painters.

If you live in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and you see a Wentworth Courier while out and about then check out my interview on page 30. If you are not a Sydneysider you can read it here. I also had an article published in the December 2009 issue of Ceramics Monthly. As a tangent off of my dissertation, the article explores the work of contemporary artists who incorporate methods of repair and use into the finished product. From Bethan Laura Wood’s teacups that stain as you drink them to the delicate drips of gold lacquer on the Reiko Kaneko‘s pieces the idea of use as damage is disregarded and instead embraced. You can read the article online here.