Final thoughts and selection

I hadn't realised that we actually had to present our work as if it was going to be in a gallery so unfortunately I couldn't organise what I would ideally want it to be presented like.

So ideally I would like a sole dining table in a room with one place setting, cutlery, wine glass, candle etc. and my finished book where the plate or menu would usually be presented in a dining experience, people would be invited to come and sit down at the table and flick through the book at their leisure, with maybe a 'waiter' there to offer them a drink as they read through.

For my selection though I have had to replace this with just a bog standard serving tray.

Even though the book as a whole is my final 'selection' for this project, I wanted to draw particular attention to this double page spread. It is the only one that I've managed to entirely complete unfortunately but I feel it shows my painting skill and portrays the ideas I have explained for this project. The writing on the left hand page was left intentionally hard to read as people will be so close to the piece anyway that it will be fine and also forces them to really pay attention and pick out the details of the piece, I feel more than they would if it was plastered clearly above the rest of the painting.

For taking this project further I have already talked about experimenting with the social aspect of this subject as it's something that intrigues me. If I was to do a book project similar to this again I think I would want to personally be with the people as they cook so I experience it more fully and also have a standardised plate for everyone to use. This would show the individuality of the person using their food alone and would also allow me to paint them all uniformly lifestyle which I think may be more impactful.

Process (book)

So I hand cut all the paper for the book and marked of the sections I will need for binding and marked up the the drawings using a classical grid method for sizing pictures up and down. I've arranged them specifically so that the dishes are as different as possible from one page to the next, separating sets of 3 with a dessert as the first picture in each group.

Process (test piece)

So I decided to make a test booklet for my book piece just to see how my images would work together on a 2 page spread and see what the impact would be.

I've included pictures below which show most of the steps that went into making this booklet, including the sizing up of images and the different stages to how I paint. Originally I had planned to make the collage section of my work a bit more rough and painterly but whilst I was painting I decided that I did want to stick more with James Rosenquist's semi-realistic style as I think it just suits the way that I work a lot more and this will give me a piece that I will be more pleased about in the end.

Unfortunately though, painting in this manner is going to take a lot more time than I had originally thought it was going to take, leaving me with not enough time to complete the book before assessment unfortunately.

Book binding

Planning how I'm going to bind my paintings together to form a book. This is the method that I'm choosing to use when creating this handmade book.

Japanese binding

It's a method that I've practised in the past and allows me to finish my paintings before binding them all together successfully.

Rirkrit Tiravanija- Untitled (free)

Again, this piece of work focuses on the social aspect of food and how people can be brought together by it. I really enjoy the idea of food being used to make people have these weird, unexpected encounters with people that they otherwise wouldn't have had. Taking this project forward, I'm definitely interested in experimenting with this aspect of food and documentation of an event similar to this, be that by photographs, sound recordings, video, drawing or writing. I think even by setting up a stall in a market (look into how possible this is money-wise etc.) and just spending the day serving other people food and maybe asking them some of the questions from this project ( instead of payment) would be interesting.

More artist research

I have had it suggested to read the extract 'Virginia Woolfe- To the Lighthouse (dragged)' by one of my tutors. I like how in the text food is used as a simple device within the text to bring, what I assume to be, the main ensemble of characters together to further the plot. It seems like the same idea and response I've gotten about food is mirrored in text like this, that food, at it's very simplest can bring people together, sometimes even in unexpected combinations etc. which brings an interesting dynamic to just what could be achieved using food.

Maybe in the future I could expand on this idea by experimenting with things like open-invitation dinner parties? Could have interesting results as there would be no way of knowing the amount of people coming, so depending on the space used it could be a very awkward, event in a large setting with few people. Or it could go the opposite way and end up with a crowd of people packed together in a small space. Obviously this would change the dynamic of the actions and depending on how the food was made could have an impact on the amount people get and how this would affect their perception of the event.
 Or simply setting up a table somewhere with the promise of food and seeing what kind of people would sit down and how these people interact.

After reading the following article (link) that begins by asking the question of 'is it art or is it just eating?'. I think that with the kind of events talked about and what I have touched on above with the idea of using food as a performance, the act of eating can be described as art given the right context. I would say the main goal of almost every artist, on a very basic level, is to affect people. And by using food in the ways talked about I definitely think that by making these 'events' and putting the spotlight upon the act of eating it becomes a form of art. Also, by using this information and either mirroring it or distorting it back to the viewer in some kind of way it can become a really interesting look into society as a whole, as this is something that everybody does. 

With my work I'm planning to look more into the individuals on a personal level but hopefully when I person flicks through my book of images they will maybe see something of themselves in the paintings or at the very least get them thinking 'what would my page look like?' or 'what is my relationship with food?'

I also found this article quite interesting (link), it involves the artist Jeanne Van Heeswijk and her involvement with the '2up2down/homebaked' project in the Anfield area of Liverpool. I found this personally interesting because Liverpool are actually the football team I support and having been to the Anfield area many times I've seen first hand just how run down and desolate it has been ever since the club and council agreed their deal. What I like about this project is that this idea, based entirely around food, seems to have really helped to invigorate the locals and give them some prospects, and more importantly hope for the future. This shows the kind of power that food can have on us, not just individually, but in society as a whole.

Interview recordings

Alex pt 1
Alex pt 2
James
Louise
Marc
Natalie
Oliver

So I've just added the recordings for the interviews that I have undertaken at the beginning of this project. I don't believe they're massively interesting by themselves to be honest but just wanted to have some context for where the quotes I'm planning to use in my work have come from. I also don't think it would add anything to the piece of work I plan to create by having these interviews actually be a part of the work either. This is just to show the process I have gone through.

Artist research: Alaena Turner

'Dinner with picasso' is a project I was recommended to look at and from what I could find about the project it's an interesting concept. Looking at Picasso's still life work and the 'futurist cookbook', along with Dr. Seuss literature as her inspiration, this collaborative work seeks to bring artists and students together in a creative manner. As I'm researching I keep finding these interesting pieces of work that I would maybe like to explore at some stage, where food is treated like a performance and is used to bring people together and engage in conversation, just as I have done with the people I'm close with in my own work so far.

Chelsea interview

Quotes from interview:

• 'represents me well'
• 'dessert is the best thing!'
• 'literally the best thing I've ever had in my life'
• 'brings me so much happiness'
• 'want to cry at some food'
• 'cooking's a personal thing'

Marc interview

Quotes from interview:

• 'can make it with the kids'
• 'who doesn't like pizza?!'
• 'pizza in Rome'
• 'the sort of thing that gets us all together'
• 'important for family'

Mum interview

Quotes from interview:

• 'your Granddad used to make lasagne'
• 'one of the few things I would eat'
• 'being really excited'
• 'it's about socialising with family and friends'
• 'your granddad got it for me and my brothers and sister were really jealous'

Natalie interview

Quotes from interview:

• '1st Christmas I ever cooked at my house'
• 'the best pudding in the world'
• 'pizza by the coloseum'
• 'authetic'
• 'we always sat together'
• 'time when we're all together'

Other influences (Massimo Bottura)

Even though he's not an artist, Massimo Bottura is someone who has influenced this project and aspects of my life ever since I first heard of him a couple of years ago. This interview from 2015 shows some of the reasons I find him inspirational in the way he talks about food and art.

Massimo Bottura Interview

You can tell from the way he references artists such as Rembrandt, Titian and Van Gogh, alongside musicians like Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground that he's a person who understands and embraces this link between food and art. While he claims to be an artisan rather than an artist the way in which he creates and plates his food show the knowledge and inspiration he's gained from these sources.

In the documentary 'chef's table' he also talks a lot about food and the way it has influenced his relationships with the people most important to him in his life. Whether it's his Grandma teaching him how to make fresh pasta, the camaraderie between him and the friends he works with or how it has affected him and his wife's relationship for good and bad, he's got stories that punctuate his entire life involving food. This is the kind of thing that I wanted to explore, and feel like I have done, within this project. The way that food connects you with those closest to you and the stories that goo along with that.

Book introduction first draft (&the importance of carbonara)

Because the book that I'm planning to create for this project may have some contrasting styles and imagery throughout it. I feel that it is necessary to write an introductory paragraph to explain my thought process behind it whilst still leaving some ambiguity for the viewer to fill in with their own mind. Anyway, I started to write the introduction as the ideas came to me as I was trying to get to sleep at about 2 in the morning. So some of this seems generally all over the place but is just a first draft for now:

'I've always had a funny relationship with food. From the age of around 3, until I first started to work at a restaurant when I was 16, my diet consisted mainly of peanut butter sandwiches and potato smiley faces. This seems even more strange when my father was actually a chef, and a rather good one I'm told, for his entire adult life. working as a head chef for dozens of restaurants whilst I grew up. But in the past few years of my life, strangely since my dad passed away, my love for food has blossomed. I now work as a chef, and spend a lot of my spare time either watching YouTube videos, tv programmes or documentaries related to cooking just for fun. One of the most pleasing aspects of living on my own has actually been the fact that I cook for myself from scratch almost every night. But living on a student budget means that sometimes I have to stick to the simpler dishes just to get me through the week. One such dish is Carbonara. I am in love with it! It's delicious, cheap, simple to make yet hard to master (which I totally have done by the way 😉) and takes a total of 10 minutes to complete. needless to say this is a meal I make with alarming regularity. It actually became a running joke within my family and friends how often I bragged about the quality of my carbonara with no evidence to back me up. So I decided that I would make it for my mum one night when I was back home. As she ate it she told me that my dad used to make this quite often when I was younger but due to my relationship with food at the time I never tried it. Then she told me of his 'secret ingredient' every time he would make it. It was at this point I realised the power that food could have. It's not just something we consume to keep ourselves alive. It's a method of communication. A showpiece. A talking point. A way to show people just how much you care for them. Since that day I have made sure to use my dad's recipe for the meal I thought I had perfected by myself. and every time I do I feel a connection that unfortunately we never had when he was still here because of my fussy nature. Food isn't just something that sustains us physically, it is about taking a piece of yourself, putting it on a plate, and sharing it with those you care about. This is what I wanted to explore within this book. By having my very closest family and friends cook a meal that means something to them I wanted to open a window to their soul for everyone to see. The following pages are basically a recipe book without the recipes. On one side of the page you will see everything that has gone into each dish. On the other you will see the final representation of the individual who has cooked it'

I also decided after writing this that I was going to make a timelapse video whilst I made myself a carbonara. I just felt it was relevant to show this dish that basically sparked my idea for this project and after reading up on Rirkit Tiravanija and his project 'Untitled(free)' [article] it felt like showing a person cooking could be another way of communicating the intimacy that food brings. Cooking, just like art, has a certain rythm and flow to it whilst it is being created and in a video like this parallels can easily be drawn between the separate processes. 

The only unfortunate thing is that my phone was slightly unstable during the recording process hahah

Link; video

1st collage attempt (composition explanation)

Just some quick pictures taken to show how I've decided upon layering and adding the text into my collage at the first attempt.

These collages I've created are intended as rough outlines to work with at a later point, painting them like James Rosenquist did. Also beginning to think that I still want these 'collages'  to have a rough, unfinished look so that they're directly contrasting with the more complete paintings of the final dish. The concept behind this is that when put together, next to each other, the collage will serve much like ingredients do, or the actual recipe page within a cookbook. Basically it will be showing everything that has gone into the dish portrayed next to it, ingredient-wise and the personality/memories of the person that has created it.

Fluxus cookbook

As mentioned in my sketchbook, interesting to see food actively being pursued in an artistic fashion.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fluxshop/sets/72157625639818348/

The link also shows the kind of communication/bonding over creation and consuming of food that seems to have been mentioned in almost every interview I have conducted.

What to do with these images????

I know that I chose to get a standardised picture from above the dish with every meal because my work will include a series of 'finished' acrylic paintings from these images. As for what to do with the rest I need to think of some way to arrange and/or paint them.

Pop art style collages are the way I want to go with this, specifically James Rosenquist and Eduardo Paolozzi.

However I want to include the text from the interviews I have undertaken as well, similar to how Barbara Kruger uses it in her work, but instead of making any social or political statements with the words, just having them there as a window into my subject's mind, without knowing the questions asked that led to these answers.

Damien Hirst's use of text in his food prints could also be used within my work, titling the food in such a clinical way to juxtapose against the busy collage of the ingredients underneath and the very nature of cooking in itself, being a lot more fluid and open to change than this kind of 'medical' text shows.

I've also looked at artists like Rauschenberg and Schwitters and how they've used collage within their works.

Whilst I do appreciate both of these artists work and their individual ways of using collage I don't think they will fit into what I plan to create within this project. After looking at Rosenquist's work I just feel that his more 'clean' and semi-realistic style of work suits the images I have gathered and the way I want to combine them on the page. However what I do like about these artists is Schwitters just using what he's got lying around basically to create his new compositions. Which in a way I feel like I'm doing with this project as I'm forcing myself to work with images that others have took and I've not really given them any direction on how I want them shot, giving them an alien feel to how I would usually work. I also like the pop's of colour and Rauschenberg's work but I don't feel like it will really have a place within my work for now as the images I currently have are all quite bright anyway.