WHEN ART AND GASTRONOMY MERGE…
From a stuffed cardoncello created by chef Flavio Lucarini (Le Bistrot Flaubert), ceramicist Valérie Delarue has crafted a Vanitas in glazed stoneware, a breathtakingly baroque profusion of life rendered in a stunningly realistic depiction of plant and animal matter. Oyster mushrooms, preserved grapes, and coiled eel skins… the palette of earthy glazes illuminated by the green of marjoram and the gold of mustard tantalizes the taste buds as much as the eye…
United by the work of the material transmuted by cutting, kneading and cooking and this secret alchemy of ingredients required to achieve the masterpiece, these two inspired creators are among the five duos of chefs and artists selected for the Balzac prize for contemporary creation fusing this year art and gastronomy.
Among the other recipe adaptations, Sylvain Parisot's (Jeanne-Aimée restaurant) and Noémie Sauve's (a visual artist and alchemist known for her salt drawings and sculptures in crystal lava and fluorescent bronze, inspired by a recent residency on Vulcano in the Sicilian Aeolian Islands) *Les Métamorphoses de la fougère* (The Metamorphoses of the Fern) captivate with their lightness and the subtlety of their combinations. An artichoke base stuffed with egg cream and covered with a veil of century egg, bristling with a fern frond brushed with black garlic cream and grated kombu leaves in vinegar, is echoed by the marriage of cooked fern ash and various colored sands and blown glass scattered in opalescent pools.
Equally subtle and sensual, Sabrina Vitali's creation, Anatomie du chagrin, presented in a fine veining of flattened and polished brass wire, is inspired by a decomposed lobster in a sea buckthorn dress powdered with yuzu from the Mallory Gabsi restaurant.
Beautifully photographed dishes and works to discover at the Maison de Balzac until June 6 (until June 12 for the winning work) and in a photo catalogue including the chefs' recipes (published by Herodios).
Balzac House, 47 Rue Raynouard, Paris 16th
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