Ciao, fellow Milan lovers and welcome to the weekly ……… column. First time’s a charm and that’s why I’ll dive right into it.
My tip for a few hours of relaxation and rest for this week is a cosy bookstore in Navigli called “Libraccio-Tutto A 2 Euro.” Different from the typical Libraccio, this store specifically focuses its content on all the forms of art. There is nothing as refreshing and inspirational as a grand tour through rows of classical pieces of art: the great Gatsby, Basquiat and Dior show books…etc. In this little wonderland one can find anything from a 2000s secondhand design book to a traditional novel from one of the greatest writers of our times. The key of this little adventure: finding the hidden gem. The last time I went to Libraccio-Tutto After a thorough search of every single compartment, it was inevitable to stumble across a specific intriguing and eye-catching book. Was it the flashy blue colour or the title that attracted me to this specific novel? I believe both. This book, the one that inspired this post is called “Artists’ Recipes - contemporary artists and their favourite recipes.”
“This book came about because we have an immense passion for food, art and other artists. We hope that you enjoy the artists recipes as much as we do.”
The artist duo Admir Jahic and Comenius Roethlisberger created this collection of art in 2015. They describe the birth of their idea using one simple reason: they love the ritual of cooking. The passionate discussions about recipes and the unperturbed nights they spent with friends and family led them to a conclusion- Why not combine art with food? Food is just another way of voicing and releasing creativity, it is an art itself to provoke specific taste buds that invoke the mind to feel certain emotions. When sugar was first added to coffee, that was not just a mere coincidence, it was an art. The combination of ingredients to look and taste beautifully is just as much of an expression as Jackson Pollock’s expressionist paintings. This idea of combining food and art steered them to invite other artists to create singular recipes.
The novel is made up of collected signature recipes of over seventy artists including anything from a traditional meal to an inimitable culinary experience. Each artist was given four blank pages, two of which contain their name and a brief summary of their recipe presented in a neat and clean manner. Conversely, the other two pages were the “playground” for the artists. Some artists allowed their imagination to run wild; creating controversial, perverse or even disturbing pieces of art, others followed strictly the initial guideline. But there is one common key factor throughout the book: every single recipe has a written part and an art piece combined. Below you can see the work of Andrew Bick who contributed his “Carpaccio of Salt-Roasted Beetroot” recipe. He used red ink to write his recipe which is coherent with the eye-catching beetroot stain on the second page. He interpreted the challenge he was given even further and used food stains to create a geometrical composition to reinforce this idea of combining food with art. As though he is in the need to explain his art he labelled the stains to connect it back to his recipe, overall creating a strong arrangement of text and painting. Through this piece he enhances how closely linked the two subjects at hand are.
