The Affordable Art Fair (fall 2012) New York - Special Issue #3 + Classic Jambalaya

AAF-NYC Director, Cristina Salmastrelli, being photographed by the art press.

Read these book titles carefully!
REBECCA HOSSACK Gallery, NY / London - "The Great American Navel"
 photographic print

ART
Affordable Art Fair
Coverage Continues

Our coverage of the AAF continues in an effort to keep the coverage on these art fairs a bit shorter by spreading them over several issues. The fair took place earlier this month in Chelsea Arts District, NYC.

REBECCA HOSSACK Gallery, NY / London
"The Great American Navel" - Photographic print.
These works made you look very closely at the titles and left everyone wondering how they were done - PHOTOSHOP? - or did the artist reprint each binder?
See a detail at the top of this issue.

Besharat Gallery from Atlanta, GA showcased the unusual drawings of Robert Jessup. 

Robert Jessup - "Boy and Sealed Heart"
Charcoal on paper

Robert Jessup - "House"

Robert Jessup - "House Table"

Robert Jessup - "Little Tailor"

Robert Jessup - "Man and Broken Arrow"

Robert Jessup - "Untitled"

Robert Jessup - "Woman and Dog"

Robert Jessup - "Double Head Reach"

Carlos Tirado developed his artistic talents in Venezuela. He produced traditional painting - it was almost like mass production - pleasing the eye of a less sophisticated audience, but he longed to explore new artistic horizons. He spent several years exploring different contemporary approaches and finally arrived at his new style of collage, using paint chips to create something similar to a digitized image.

Besharat Gallery of Atlanta, Ga - Artist: Carlos Tirado - "After Lone Ranger" & "After Batman"
Collage of hardware store paint samples to form image.

Carlos Tirado "After" series
detail of hardware paint samples 

The stainless steel etchings of Bruce MacDonald, at Havoc gallery in Burlington, VT, have taken the surfaces of David Smith sculptures and explored the many possibilities of power tools vs the stainless steel, metal surface. One cannot focus on these marks, they appear three dimensional, floating on the surface.

Bruce R. MacDonald
Stainless Steel surface manipulations.

Stainless Steel surface manipulation, detail.

Avy Claire divides her time between Maine and New York City. Playing with the disorder of nature, she reassembles her landscapes, sewing together each square to "re-form" the original view. Her Blue Bay series was inspired by the global fresh water shortage. She layers the images of water with words from the book "Blue Covenant".

KPK Contemporary Art, London - Artist: Avy Claire

Construction of digital prints on Mylar

Bleach Box Gallery - Cambridge, UK
Richard Heeps - photography 

Spirit del Art Gallery NY, Amparo Garzon,
"Women Series"
Bronze sculpture

Spirit del Art Gallery NY, Amparo Garzon,
"Women Series"
Bronze sculpture

Capital Culture Gallery, London - Photographer: James Sparshatt "Snow scape l"
c-print with plex face-mount   40" x 27"   Edition of 15 

Capital Culture Gallery, London
Photographer: James Sparshatt
"Dark Materials lV"
C-print with plex face mount
40" x 27" Edition of 15

Will's Art Warehouse, London - Tom Frost - Graphic sculpture

Will's Art Warehouse - Tom Frost - Silkscreen Print

Will's Art Warehouse - Tom Frost - Stamps

(Source: Visit to the Affordable Art Fair - All photos were taken at the art fair, with permission from fair management and the galleries.)

FOOD

Jambalaya

The "kitchen sink" of Cajun Food.

Jambalaya had its origins in the Creole mix of Spanish, African, French and Native American cultures. In Spanish, a ham, rice and seafood dish would be called "Paella con jamon"; the Native Americans had a saying, "Sham, pal ha! Ya!" meaning, "Be full, not skinny - eat up!"; and there are African words for ham, "Jamba" and for rice, "Ya." If you mix all of those cultures, words and phrases up, like the dish itself, you end up with what we call "Jambalaya!"

Jambalaya was the original Cajun "left-overs dish", made from what ever was in the kitchen each time - a hodge-podge of Rice, Shrimp, Chicken, Ham, Sausage, Fish and Vegetables. Each time the dish was a little different based on the available ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 links of Cajun pork andouille sausage, cut into 1/4" rounds.
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery, 1/8" slices 
1 green bell pepper, diced
5 or 6 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, diced
4 strips of bacon
1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Pepper
1/2 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning
1 Tablespoon of Cajun Seasoning
1 chicken breast, cubed
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup of uncooked rice
1 thick slice of ham, diced
1 pound of raw shrimp in the shell (frozen is fine)


Directions:
- In a large pot 
- Brown (only) sausage, chicken and ham - remove
- Cook bacon, remove
- To oil from the bacon add onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic and cook until translucent. 
- Add mushrooms - continue to cook until onion just starts to brown, stirring
- In a second 2" deep pan, dry cook 1 cup of rice for a minute, then pour the rice into the pot.
- Add back: chicken, ham, bacon and sausage.
- Add 2 cups of Chicken Stock and all seasonings, stir and bring all to a boil
- Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes (check to see if most liquid has been absorbed by rice and not burning on bottom, in 15 minutes.)
In the 2" deep pan, add 1 1/2" water and 1 1/2 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning (for seafood), bring to a boil.
- Rinse shrimp and put into the boiling, seasoned water, cook stirring until all shrimp are nicely colored, no grey shell at all. 
- Remove shrimp with tongs to drain in a colander over a bowl or the sink
- let cool
- peel shrimp, discarding the peels and tails, then cut each shrimp in-half 

- When the rice mixture is done, pour it into a large bowl, add the shrimp, and taste for seasonings. If a bit flat add salt to taste and/or more Cajun Seasoning, a little at a time until hot enough for your taste.

(Source: family recipe)

Until later,

JACK

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness, the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved. Concept, Original Art, Text & Photographs are © Copyright 2012 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery, museum, fair or festival photographs were taken with permission. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.