Feasting on Art

The collages and paintings by Maz Dixon featuring “The Big Things of Australia”, will be featured in the upcoming curated exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney. Beginning in the early 60s, monumental objects ranging from giant fruit to prawns and pelicans began to litter the landscape of Australia. Personally, the first “Big Thing” I encountered after moving to Australia was The Big Prawn in Ballina which was constructed in 1989. In reality, the bubblegum pink crustacean emerges on the horizon of the roadside much in the same way it pokes out of the surf of Dixon’s Monument (Prawn). Here the vintage feel of the artwork is echoed in the recipe with the retro-classic, prawn cocktail.

Max Dixon, Monument (Prawn), 2012
collage, 31 x 38cm, Courtesy the Artist and Brenda May Gallery, Sydney

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While completing a mental inventory of the refrigerator during my walk home, I began to reminisce about the flavours of the stacked tortilla torta from a couple of weeks ago. Clicking through my art archives, the two images below caught my eye, specifically because they are works by Rivera not painted upon a wall. Looking at them together inspired a shrimp taco recipe with a grape tomato, radish and spring onion salsa. The flavors are fresh and bright, helped with a squeeze of fresh lime to finish. In her essay Roadside Diners in issue 6 of Jamie Magazine, Alice Waters reminisces, “we engaged in a favourite pastime: adding recipes to our fictional cookbook Everything Tastes Better with Lime.” The line resonated with me and I began playing the same game, buying limes by the dozen to squeeze over everything. Out of 84 recipe posts on this blog, almost 20% include a finish with fresh citrus. In the case of the Mexican recipes, the splash of lime really makes the dish sing.

(Left) Diego Rivera, The Boy with the Taco / El Niño del taco, 1932
lithograph, 43.18 x 30.16 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(Right) Diego Rivera, The temptations of Saint Antony / Las tentaciones de San Antonio, 1947
oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, Museuo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.

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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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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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Welcome to Feasting on Art’s brand new home – a new look designed by Alyson of Seventy and Sunny and a new URL. There is the same Recipe Index but a new About page. I still have to get a photo up but until then you can see a pseudo self-portrait here. I have a bit more work to do before I will feel completely settled in but I really love the new site. As you can see there is now a designated space for sponsors, email tresjoliestudios AT gmail DOT com for the current advertising specs.

I planned out this post before I realised its significance as the first on the new blog. Luckily the ceviche combines many of  my favorite ingredients – seafood, fresh fruit, lime, and spicy pickled jalapeños. Ceviche is a seafood dish that originated on the Mexican coast. The seafood is marinated in citrus juices which pickle the meat and effectively cooks it without heat. The flavors are sweet and spicy with a hint of sour from the lime. It is the perfect summer dish and is best enjoyed with a glass of cold white wine and a view of the ocean.

Frida Kahlo, Still Life: Viva la vida y el Dr. Juan Farill, 1953-54
Oil on masonite, 39 x 64.7 cm, Private Collection

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