Feasting on Art

On August 5th, the exhibition Slow Burn – A century of Australian women artists from a private collection, will open at the S.H. Ervin Gallery. I have spent the past four months working very hard on the exhibition catalogue and am very proud to be a co-author on such an exciting and important project. Of the 102 artists from the collection, I researched and wrote 47 of the bios – the reason the Feasting on Art posts have been quite infrequent. The collection ranges “from the delicate pastels of Janet Cumbrae Stewart to the modernist prints of Margaret Preston through to the bio-techno sculptures of Patricia Piccinini. The works in the exhibition demonstrate the skill and versatility of women artists over the past hundred years” (S.H. Ervin Gallery). In honour of the exhibition I plan to do a mini-series featuring a few of the artists represented in the collection as well as one or two of the artworks that I did not write about for the book. The exhibition will be on view at the S.H. Ervin Gallery until the 19th of September.

Margaret Olley, Still life with mandarins, c.1975
oil on board, 76 x 122 cm, Private collection

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The reduction of the genre of still life to its title produces a problem between languages.  In English, the name ‘still life’ carries certain connotations.  The word ‘life’ produces the idea of movement; the subject is living and has been captured or stilled within the painting.  The title creates the idea that ‘still life’ is a captured moment, perhaps a ‘snapshot’ of one’s Sunday dinner.  This name is entirely misleading, the still life genre often depicts fish, animals, plants, and commodities – all of which are dead.  The name still life is ironic, because life that has been stilled is death.  As French artist, Manet would have used the French title nature morte, which literally translates to dead nature.  The genre was previously known as vie coye, which roughly translates to ‘silent life.’ (1) The distinction between still life and dead nature is important.  Manet was certainly aware of the English title ‘still life,’ and this becomes apparent in the strange dichotomy in the painting between life and death.  The central image of the fish with its tail suspended in time embodies the living/dead aspect.  The fish looks like it is dead with its mouth gaping and eye bulging, yet the broad sweeping brushstrokes and tail flipped into the air, mentioned earlier, suggests movement and thus life.  This embodiment of the tension within the title of the genre is an aspect of painting unique to Manet.

Édouard Manet, Fish (Still Life), 1864
oil on canvas, 32.1 x 73.4 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago

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As a Midwest girl I was very excited when Chicago blogger Dana from Real Food Rehab sent me an email regarding a collaboration. She very kindly interviewed me for her site and we quickly began to assemble ideas. The Art Institute of Chicago has always been very near and dear to my heart (it houses the painting that began my still life education) and I was delighted when Dana suggested we pick a painting to highlight an upcoming exhibition at the museum. Dana is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and combines a unique viewpoint to the vast food blogsphere. A few of my favorite posts are her pickled asparagus and the review of The Flavor Bible, one of my oft-used cooking resources. Thanks for collaborating with me Dana!

Visit Dana’s blog Real Food Rehab for a rustic apple tart recipe.
 

Henri Matisse, Apples, 1916, Oil on canvas, 116.9 x 88.9 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
© 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 
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Culinaria – The Cuisine of the Sun is an exhibition of paintings by the artist John Olsen that recently opened here in Sydney at the Tim Olsen Gallery. The show is a foodie/art lover’s dream come true – a collection of paintings in Olsen’s signature squiggly style of all of his favourite recipes. In conjunction with the exhibition, Olsen penned a cookbook with Andy Harris. In this instance the art was directly inspired by a recipe – food to art and now back to food again. With my recipe I wanted to capture the colour of the sun, in reference to the exhibition title, as well as the colours and compositional shapes found in the painting.

 
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Sometimes I can’t help myself, I just have to indulge in a bit of kitsch.  Cupcakes and  pharmaceuticals are not a likely combination but I stayed true to the spot painting production and created a slightly different shade for each little cake and arranged them in a random order.   The cake is the red velvet variety sans the red colouring. It is moist and rich and wonderfully sour paired with the lemon cream cheese icing.

I want to send a quick thank you to Sarah and Otiena. Sarah designed beautiful business cards for my blog and business and Otiena interviewed me for the site Under My Bed. Also there are only 26 more days until the recipe contest closes – entries are already rolling in, don’t forget to submit yours!

Damien Hirst, Cineole, 2004
etching in colours, 114 x 112 cm, edition of 145

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