The Vatel Set
Collaboration with Paul DD Smith, consisting of 9 faience plates painted with engobe and glaze. It was presented as part of the exhibition Back There at Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, September– October 2020, as well as the exhibition Far Back We Must Go To Do A Big Jump at Chertlüdde, Berlin, November 2019–January 2020
At least togetherStuff to do
Move Your Ass!
The Sow
Casualty of Spirits
Over the Hump
A little rest and a few nightmares
Done
Each bowl and plate within the set displays a painted garland of culinary and floral motifs that encircles a narrative scenario drawn into the ceramic surface. These scenes pay homage to the historical figure François Vatel, a chef and event planner who served at the Château de Chantilly in seventeenth century France. Vatel is infamous for having committed suicide in response to the immense pressure of entertaining Louis XIV and his enormous entourage. The anecdote goes that he ran himself through with his own sword because of the great shame of a missing delivery of fish. The grotesque and comical imagery drawn into the surface of the ceramics draw attention to the labour existing behind the scenes of the banquet. In contrast to the garlands that encircle the plates and bowls, the ghostly lines of the central drawings suggest wretched figures that haunt the festivities. The story of Vatel seemed like a prefiguration of the artist in today’s gig economy.