I appreciate how struggle and suffering are the chisel to the marble so to speak- or they can be hammer to chisel. The story of Grant Achatz is well known in culinary circles. Chef creates new restaurant experience, Alinea in Chicago, for Americans, wins accolades and recognition from peers only to find out he has cancer of the mouth. His tongue, an instrument to his knife and pen cannot for a time taste anything. It has been said before and is a good comparison of Beethoven hearing music in his head much like Achatz tasted in his head. His story is one that like many others made me root for him, pray for him, desire to see him pull through stronger. Earlier this year, he posted a book proposal he’s written for a book he was shopping around on “The Atlantic Monthly”. I am invigorated by engaging art for my art and smiled when I came across his thoughts:
“Everything that I see, hear, and feel, I relate to food. When I go to a movie and watch the cinematography, I ask myself why the director chose that lighting, those colors, that setting and then I imagine scenarios where we light Alinea in a similar fashion or dress a waiter in an unusual outfit to mirror the food, or create a mood with similar dialogue.”
He goes on to say that most of the ideas are not used, but I love how he evaluates the art around him with an appraiser’s eye of how it can teach him, illuminate opportunities for further fusion of experience. So how have you been engaging the art around you into your art?