A John Nixon lunch is soup, reheated on the stovetop, with different recipes week to week. It is “only two olives left, one for me, one for you”. It is red capsicums in a pink bowl and green cucumber on a blue plate; an assemblage of colour and form like a constructed painting, which sometimes shares the lunch table. On other occasions, a pie or a sausage offers a departure from the usual routine. Occasionally there is cake, always there is bread.
Enacted almost as ritual, our weekly lunch provided a pause in the day’s work. With John, the table was a site for eating, working, and talking, just as the food upon which it was served offered more than a form of sustenance — at times, it too became a new material for his practice. At John’s table, food was equally utilised as an analogical tool for discussion on art and life.
“Show ten loaves of bread, okay, we understand what you do.”
Cooking with John takes its cue from a selection of John’s food analogies, recorded by his most recent assistants, Amalia Lindo and Jacqueline Stojanović. The exhibition is a testimonial to John’s teachings through the presentation of new works by the artist friends and mentees from Nixon’s wide circle who have also had the pleasure of sharing John’s table. We present Cooking with John as an “anti-cookbook” wherein the analogies are the recipes and the artworks are the ingredients.
The head chef has left but the kitchen remains open.
Rose Nolan and Steven Bram appear courtesy Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
David Palliser appears courtesy of Jacob Hoerner Gallery, Melbourne
Justin Andrews appears courtesy of Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne |
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