Friday, June 6, 2025. Missouri.
These five drawings investigate the character of the Chef, a figure representing the necessity of taking pleasure in life. The Chef is not only studied in the rudiments of cooking, but is motivated by a desire to refine. They are connected to their audience, members of which they call “diners”, as very few makers are. The very center of their craft is interested in the pleasure they may give to their audience. In their hands, food becomes greater than mere fuel, instead it calls for ceremony and gathering. It is an invitation to that pleasure that is ever present and always for the taking.
The character of the Chef is doubly interesting for the costume they dorn; with its hat so theatrically like the actor’s costume. This habit of costuming oneself for vocational purposes being widespread, a requirement for safety even, but I believe that the costume is that which we ordain ourselves with to make ourselves be that which we desire to be.
