U:L:O: Part I 2016 | O: Andrew Russeth

A Good Weekend

June 17 – July 10, 2016
Opening Reception June 17, 6-9pm

It is the hard drinking that always comes up when talking about the lives of artists—the beers tossed back at the Cedar Tavern in the 1950s, the martinis savored at the Odeon in the ‘80s. But artists have also had more modest indulgences, just like the rest of us—they have enjoyed sweets, candies, and pastries, and sometimes they have even baked them.

Robert Motherwell made a rich bittersweet chocolate mousse and a subtle whiskey cake. Romare Bearden used an old recipe from St. Martin to cook up rum cake. Georgia O’Keeffe claimed to have “the best applesauce tree around,” at her home in Abiquiú, New Mexico, and she and her personal chef used it to create not only applesauce but also apple pies and Norwegian apple cakes. “I don’t do much cooking,” Alice Neel said in 1977, when editors from the Museum of Modern Art working on a cookbook approached her. “I’m an artist; I have privileges, you see, that only men had in the past." But, Neel added, “I make great hot-fudge sauce,” and submitted the recipe. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his friend Maurice Joyant were consummate gourmets, collecting details on how to make everything from a potent rum punch to a mysterious snake-shaped cake called the Convent Serpent. The health-conscious John Cage liked cookies with ground almonds, oats, and wheat flour, sweetened with maple syrup (they are far tastier than one might expect), while Mary Cassatt had more decadent tastes, serving up chocolate caramels when hosting in Paris. The list goes on.

For the run of the show, a rotating selection of these treats will be on offer from a little stand, called A Good Weekend, in the courtyard of the gallery. A cookbook collecting recipes, sourced from various books and archives, will also be available. Other artists whose sweets will be presented include Charles Sheeler, Andy Warhol, Alex Katz, Liberace, Latifa Echakhch, Grandma Moses, Norman Rockwell, and Roger Nicholson.

The name of the storefront is borrowed from Roberto Matta, who once said, while reminiscing about a few days he spent out in Queens visiting Joseph Cornell, a notorious sugar lover, “The first thing he showed me as a ‘promise’ of a good weekend was the ice-box—it was packed with cake, ice cream, and all sorts of sweets.”

After a long art season in New York, it is time for a little rest and relaxation. Please stop by for a cookie, a cupcake, a slice of cake, and perhaps a rum punch.

Andrew Russeth, an art critic based in New York, is co-executive editor of ARTnews magazine.

U:L:O: is an annual curatorial program that invites six curators over a six week period to organize a show in one of the three spaces at Interstate Projects, Upper(U:), Lower(L:), and Outside(O:). For 2015, Interstate Projects is pleased to present two parts. U:L:O: Part I is from June 17 – July 3, and includes U: Tim Gentles (New York), L: Kimberly-Klark (Queens), O: Andrew Russeth (New York). Part II is from July 15 – July 30, and includes U: Al Bedell (New York) L: Nichole Caruso (New York) O: Jupiter Woods (London).

Image: Antoine Vollon, Mound of Butter, 1875–85, oil on canvas, 20 x 25 in., collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

BAKED GOODS

JULY 17-19
-- Toulouse-Lautrec's Convent Serpent
-- Mary Cassatt's Caramels au Chocolat
-- Mimi Stone's (Urs Fischer studio) Olive Oil Cake
-- Romare Bearden's Bolo di Rom
-- Norman Rockwell's Oatmeal Cookies

JULY 25-26
-- John Cage's Almond Cookies
-- George Segal's Sponge Cake
-- Grandma Moses's Old-Fashioned Macaroons

JULY 2-3
-- To be announced

JULY 9-10
-- To be announced