Gösta Diehl – Pan-fried Salmon
The Finnish artist Gösta Diehl was active in the first half of the 20th century and was known for his use of vivid colour in his paintings often composed in a cubist style. In July 2015, I travelled to Helsinki, Finland to spend a week in the studio of artist Elizabeth Willing while she was...
Otto van Schrieck – Chicken, Mushroom & Feta Risotto
Otto van Schrick was a Dutch painter of Golden Age who according to the Musee de Beaux Arts, “invented a particular genre half-way between still life and landscape painting.” His dark and sombre compositions of flora and fauna often contained lizards and snakes alongside the flowers and mushrooms scattered on the forest floor. The painting above...
Vincent van Gogh – Bloody Mary
Vincent van Gogh‘s Still-Life with Mackerels, Lemons and Tomatoes (1886) was painted the year the artist moved from Antwerp, where he had very little to eat and no money, to Paris where he lived with his brother Theo. While living in Antwerp, he spent much of his time studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens...
Henri Matisse – Stuffed Eggplant
The 1911 painting Still Life with Aubergines by Henri Matisse exemplifies the characteristics of the Fauvist movement with the wild brushstrokes and incongruent colours. The painting was completed during a period of flux in Matisse’s oeuvre, During this time in his career he was influenced by travel to Algeria and a major exhibition of Islamic Art...
Elizabeth Willing – Pfeffernüsse
A focal point in the exhibition Sugar, Sugar at Brenda May Gallery is the installation Goosebump, the 7-metre wall covered with over 300 pfeffernüsse biscuits. It took the Brisbane-based artist Elizabeth Willing over a day and a half to create the entire installation and visitors were invited to bite the cookies from the wall starting on...
Mylyn Nguyen – Sweet Tea
Only one more week until we install Sugar, Sugar at Brenda May Gallery! The work has started to arrive at the Gallery and I am incredibly proud of this exhibition, all of the artists are outstanding. The artwork below is one of the pieces included in the show and I was a bit more literal...
Janet Tavener – Asparagus Pie
The Sugar, Sugar exhibition will be installed at Brenda May Gallery in about three weeks and in the lead-up to the show, I will be sharing a selection of the work that will be on view. You can see Mylyn Nguyen’s carved sugar cube in the current issue of Vogue Living. This is the second...
Gustave Courbet – Smoked Trout Smørrebrød
Smørrebrød is the Danish tradition of open-face sandwiches. A dark dense bread, usually a type of rye, is toasted and topped with smoked or pickled fish and other vegetables. In this version, the smoked trout is the star and so it is essential to purchase high-quality fish. I picked up a whole fish and carefully...
William Scott – Mackerel with Mixed Tomato Salad
The oil painting by William Scott was selected for this post by British artist May van Millingen. Rather than photographing the finished dish, van Millingen created an illustration of a recipe by Jamie Oliver (pictured below) of mackerel with mixed tomato salad. Her illustrations have been commissioned by many leading brands and more of her...
Johan Briedé – Pumpkin Soup
Johan Briedé was a Dutch artist and graphic designer. His career was spent producing illustrations for various magazines and publications in the Netherlands. By the end of his career he produced around 130 bookplates in addition to the numerous drawings, paintings and etchings he completed. He was interested in the work of Vincent Van Gogh...
Al Munro – Flavoured Salts
The new series of drawings by Al Munro examining the arrangement of atoms within common foodstuffs including salt, sugar and vinegar, are featured in the current exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney. In her artist statement, Munro writes “I am interesting in using drawing-based media to examine...
Christine Turner – Anzac Biscuits
The 2.5 x 2.5 metre biscuit tin installation by Christine Turner is featured in the current curated exhibition Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life at Brenda May Gallery in Sydney. According to Turner, “I have found that biscuit tins require a simple configuration when presented in artworks. Each tin provides a great deal of...