Clearly I don’t write every day… or even every week. Rather, I wait until truly inspired by something luscious. Something drenched in flavor, aroma, and taste. Something worth the calories and that extra time doing sit-ups.
Art has always been key to the intent behind “Abi’s Farmhouse Kitchen” but in writing at least, my love affair with beauty and art has been usurped by the more easily quantifiable joys of gastronomy and wine. Art is ephemeral. And so strikingly personal. Its joys are hard to get down on paper…especially with 2 little kids under foot. It seems like I get one thought “just so” and then someone poops themselves or starts to cry. Or scream. Over a marker. Or Leggo.
But in my adult brain, art reigns equal to food and wine. Art is the pursuit of beauty (for me at least). The very act of celebration in which elevates humans to glory in our finest state. If you think about it, it is Art and Music and Architecture (& Rationality) that cannot be snuffed out by even the most repressive regimes and ideologies. At least, not yet.
For those of us that are lucky to live in cultures celebrating independence, Rationality, and beauty — and for those of us that are more sensory driven, I believe that art is every bit a key part of the human maturation process. We start out with cheap prints of Monet’s “Water lilies” or Munch’s “The Scream” in our dorm rooms. Drinking $2 Buck Chuck. Then graduate to generic Z-gallery collages, $11 bottles of wine, and geometric mirrors. In short, rooms designed for us by catalogue people.
I may be a dick for saying this but I fear most of us stop here. And neglect to explore the very real world of real artists, real chefs, real growers of real produce, and real wines. And the very real joys and color such things gift us.
The thing is – real art, like real wine, enriches our lives each and every day. That first sip of hot coffee as the sun breaks over the Mayacamas warms my soul just as much as cooking dinner beneath Dennis Ziemienski ‘s “Tomatoes” or Robert Townsend’s “Pastries.” At the other side of the day, drinking fine Annadel Estate wine by the fire under Whitney Abbot’s cows or Nicola Hoshino’s abstract Oysters.
Truth is, I’d rather die than hang a Thomas Kinkade on my wall. Or drink $2 Buck Chuck, for that matter. My friend and esteemed gallerist Michael Hollis once said something like “we all start out with college posters and cheap wine but we grow into fine wines and real art.” So that is my goal here, to celebrate real Art in a new chapter for the Kitchen called “Abi’s Farmhouse Gallery.”
I promise the art and artists I highlight will be worth the few minutes you spend here…or the money you wisely investing in these fine artists. Because art (& wine) make the very best gifts to ourselves. Ever!