A thing for bananas.
Jeff Koons, Michael Jacskon and Bubbles, 1988
It all began with the Jeff Koons’ sculpture Michael Jackson and Bubbles which was included in SFMOMA’s 75th Anniversary Show. The show opened shortly after Michael Jackson’s death adding a new layer of meaning to this already iconic work of art. At first we were convinced a banana would be an appropriate start because Bubbles was a chimpanzee and chimpanzees eat bananas and Michael Jackson well… you can learn more about it all here.
When asked to do a 7.5 minute talk on a single work of his choosing, San Francisco-based artist Kota Ezawa delivered this on the iconic Koons sculpture. I only wish we could have brought him our first try at a Koons-inspired frozen treat to use as it would have been a great stand-in for a microphone, don’t you think?
Photo courtesy of Caitlin Freeman, who had to manage holding the Koons ‘banana’ whilst documenting, as I was on the floor utterly inconsolable, 2010.
Thankfully there is a no food or drink policy strictly enforced throughout the museum galleries. I couldn’t even bear to take it out of the freezer! Caitlin is a bit less shy about these kinds of things and doesn’t mind calling it like it is. Needless to say, we reconsidered the white chocolate covered banana-on-a-stick and went down to visit the piece with a fresh perspective. We focused on the title. Bubbles. How to make bubbles in a dessert? How to make something very gold, very white? Caitlin discovered some ceremonial Turkish tea cups and it all fell into place. Wintertime was approaching and a warm hot chocolate dessert would be a great addition to our selection of sweets. We created a slightly spicy and citrusy white hot chocolate with cardamom and lemon zest—snowy white and perfectly showcasing the the ornate cup and its resemblance to Michael Jackson’s golden locks. We developed a delicious Lillet marshmallow that we piped into spheres that floated, adorned with gold leaf, atop the hot chocolate.
And then came the Exposed show, conceived by SFMOMA Senior Curator of Photography Sandra S. Phillips and co-curated with Tate Curator of Photography Simon Baker, this exhibition traced how voyeuristic observation with cameras in the 19th century influenced street photography in the 20th century. Included in the show was Robert Mapplethorpe’s Man in a Polyester Suit whichhung quietly at the end of a wall and screamed to us “frozen chocolate banana!!!!”. Since this show was full of ‘bananas’, much of the discussion around the exhibition was around visitors sensitivities to the subject matter, particularly how to have children experience the work, we thought it would be particularly clever to refer to that in our own display complete with a peep-hole!
Mapplethorpe Frozen Banana, Man in Polyester Suit, 1980
Enrobed in dark chocolate, the coating was seamless and I was by this time grown up enough to hold one myself. Supervised with both hands.
1 Notes/Hide
modernartdesserts reblogged this from modernartdesserts
