Jackson Pollock, like many artists, had a relationship with food that exceeded the task that for many can be tedious. Rather, cooking was an extension of his creative vision.
He was, in addition to artist, gardener, baker and party host. Together with his wife, artist Lee Krasner, they prepared exquisite recipes, many of them inherited from the artist’s mother, Stella.
Robyn Lea, an Australian photographer and author, found lots of handwritten recipes at Pollock’s home in Springs, Long Island. Edited in the fabulous book “Dinner with Jackson Pollock”, Lea combines the handwritten recipes and with spectacular and colorful photographs.
Long Island, one of the states of New York, is the stage of this culinary experience. The book highlights the artist’s relationship with his surroundings, includes photographs of landscapes and has a manifest intention to show the influence that Nature and Food had on the artist.
Pollock and his wife cultivated and collected products from the area. The artist also fished with his friends. Outdoors, friendships, love. Many of the recipes are gathered from friends, neighbors, anecdotes, from the city of Springs.
At the same time, Lea’s photography becomes a plastic work. In June 2018, as part of this project, Lea presented her photographs in Motor Works Gallery, Australia. A “Mural of recipes”, like a culinary route map of the life of Jackson Pollock.
Images of pigments or materials of the artist. The floor of the workshop in Azul. A handwritten recipe for bread made by the artist, fused with the image of a winter tree.
Different photographs that, based on their delicate color, assembly, organization and choice, place Robyn Lea as a precise contemporary visual artist with a great aesthetic vision.
Like his mother Stella, Pollock was very proud of his homemade bread, and considered baking a fine art to be taken very seriously. Krasner confirmed “…he was very fastidious about his baking – marvelous bread, cake and apple pies. He also made a great spaghetti sauce.” ( Catalogue Motor Works Gallery)
