Mild eternities have passed since the Colombe d'Or in St. Paul de Vence, Sud-est de la France, built itself a blue-chip arsenal. As, legend has it, patrons such as Bonnard, Signac, and Matisse gifted their oeuvre in exchange for a fricassee. Currently, the relationship between food and art has become slightly more equalitarian, if uneven in its ultimate critical reception.
These intricacies seem to excite Raphael Castoriano, founder of Kreemart., a self-proclaimed creative enterprise that gives opportunities to artists to explore dessert as a medium, via partner chefs. Or to put it in his own words: "Neither art nor dessert are necessary for survival but both further enhance the enjoyment of life."
In a scant 5 years Mr. Castoriano, armed with franco-latino torrential persuasion had Ghada Amer and Iranian artist Reza Farkhondeh create a cake of Bush (43) and Tony Blair heads made of "smash-ready" hollow white chocolate. While MacArthur grant recipient (and recent White House appointee to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts) Teresita Fernandez produced a caramelized sugar-almond paste reproduction of a 1930s house by architect Gregory Ain.
Most recently Mr.Castoriano, who in November will debut in W magazine's annual Art issue, conquered Marina Abramovic' anatomy. The Serb du Soleil reproduced a mold of her inconvenient lips in 460 editions of edible 24K gold, designed in collaboration with chef Guido Magni of Sant Ambroeus. Quite the provocative tribute to her three months aphonia marathon at the MoMa.
Not content, Mr.Castoriano who by now has traveled on the balkanic artist's face more than Eva Marie Saint heels on Thomas Jefferson in North by Northwest, has graduated to Ms. Abramovic's nose. To be unveiled, in its molten white sugar glory, on October 11 at a gala dinner at Dasha Zhukova's Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. In the occasion of the retrospective Marina Abramovic: the Artist is Present (at GCCC from 10/8 to 12/4). The Nose is cast upon the artist's own evocation of Nikolai Gogol's eponymous 19th century short story. And guests will be urged to wear it on their faces a' la Nose White Shut. A limited edition of 350 Silver Noses made of fine dark chocolate by Mr. Mogni will be presented as a farewell memento.