Cranberry & Pomegranate Chutney: Swati Khurana

Swati Khurana, Sometime, Sometime (Bollywood Mash-up series), 2008. RT 4:00. Courtesy the artist.

About a week ago, I posted a note on Facebook and Twitter asking artists about their Thanksgiving menus. Swati Khurana responded with excitement about her homemade chutney of cranberries, pomegranate and raspberries, and has generously shared her recipe.

Born in Indian, raised in the Hudson Valley, and today based in Brooklyn, Khurana's work has been shown locally at Bronx Museum, Queens Museum, Bose Pacia Modern, Center for Book Arts, Exit Art, Momenta Art, Jersey City Museum, Art-in-General, WhiteBox and Rush Arts; and internationally in Costa Rica, The Gambia (West Africa), Italy, India and Nepal. Her many accolades include the Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant, Artist-in-Marketplace at the Bronx Museum, Aljira’s Emerge program, and residencies at Henry Street Settlement, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Pace University, BCAT/Rotunda Gallery, and Kartong Village Development Committee. She will present her newest work in a solo exhibition at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai in January 2010.

Ingredients

1 large pomegranate, seeded

1-2 packages of raspberries, small

1 bag of fresh cranberries

sugar or agave nectar, to taste

chopped fresh mint, to taste

fresh squeezed lime juice, to taste

Instructions
Boil cranberries in a saucepan; as they begin to open up and split in half, add sugar or agave. When cranberries are tender, remove saucepan from stove and drain. Place cranberries in a large bowl. Add raspberries and use a masher to mix the fruits. Add more sugar or agave as needed. Add fresh squeezed lime juice and mash again. Toss in the seeds of a large pomegranate and stir with a spoon (do not mash the seeds). Stir in chopped mint. Taste and add more lime juice, sugar or agave as desired. Chill and serve. "This chutney is excellent over ice-cream or yogurt, on toast or sandwiches, as a side to poultry or meat, and on its own," says Khurana.

Wedding Trousseau (detail), 2009. Ink and embroidery on cloth. Courtesy the artist.

A founding member of the South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC), Khurana's work is currently on view in Domestic Policy -- SAWCC's 12th annual visual arts exhibition -- at The Guild, New York. Curator Rocio Aranda-Alvarado writes of the artist's new suite of embroideries titled Wedding Trousseau:

Domestic policies (often influenced by religious ideas) guide the laws of marriage. Within the traditions and history of marriage, additional ceremonies, rituals, and beliefs accompany the entire rite of passage. Swati Khurana’s "Wedding Trousseau" relates to these rituals and their influence on gender and the social roles of women. She notes: “To me, the seductive promises of rituals comprise a huge part of domestic policy.” The marriage rituals and their power to inspire particular beliefs or to manipulate behaviors are explored throughout these images, in which the artist presents drawings of her own wedding and its anticipated events. She had given the drawings on fabric to her grandmothers and asked them, without additional instructions, to simply embroider on them. With this gesture, the entire trousseau of shawls, blankets, and saris that are hand-sewn, knit, crocheted, or embroidered is reconsidered, an additional layer to the already complex formalities of a symbolic act.

Khurana acknowledges her grandmothers, Pushpa Khurana and Sharda Sethi, for their collaborative and creative spirit in making Wedding Trousseau, as well as Seema Khurana, Kanika Jaiswal and Firelei Baez without whom this body of work would not have been possible. Domestic Policy continues through December 12. Look out for a Contemporary Confections interview with the artist in the spring.

Looks Good: Ginger Pumpkin Bread with Sugar Glaze

Courtesy Recipe Mashups.

Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (1 3/4 cups)
3 large eggs

Sugar Glaze (optional):
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Go to Recipe Mashups for baking tips; and Martha Stewart.com for instructions.

Eye Candy: Saya Woolfalk

Saya Woolfalk, A Ritual of the Empathic, 2009. Studio Museum in Harlem/Performa 09.

Courtesy the artist. Photo: Ray Llanos.

Artist Saya Woolfalk and choreographer Melanie Aceto recently presented A Ritual of the Empathic, a project for Performa 09, at the Studio Museum in Harlem. A Ritual is the first dance piece in Woolfalk's ongoing body of work called "No Place," and a fantastic addition.

A Ritual expands the fictional narrative of No Place -- a future where people are part-plant, part human -- to include a group of women called the Empathics. They believe that No Place is a future worth inhabiting and, through their gestures, try to conjure this utopian land in the present day.

Five women dressed in a Teletubbie array of Lycra suits performed this modern dance piece against a minimal white backdrop flecked with green stars. Underscoring Woolfalk's child's play aesthetics, the padded flooring beneath the dancers resembled a giant puzzle mat. Intermittent projections of plant shadows and costuming that appeared to sprout leaves evoked the central storyline. Aceto's choreographic adaptation of yoga and Pilates postures was unmistakable, but in this setting the poses seemed other worldly.

More pictures:

All images courtesy the artist; photographed by Ray Llanos.

Review: laberintos

William Cordova, this one's 4U (p'a nosotros), 2007-8. Plywood, 2 x 4s, drywall, TV monitor, speakers, dimensions variable. Photo: N. Caruth.

In today's issue of ...might be good I review William Cordova's show, laberintos, at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.:

Cordova’s latest exhibition takes me back to the early days of Kanye West—not the egotistical, cheeky personality who steals the spotlight from little girls, but the gentle genius who recorded The College Dropout. West was highly regarded for his talented sampling and mixing, through which he bridged earlier generations of sound and cultural history with today’s music. Cordova’s first solo show at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. calls attention to his best West-like tendencies. Even so, with laberintos Cordova only sporadically finds his way out of a maze of mediocrity.

Continue reading here.

Looks Good: Honey Beer Bread

Courtesy Gimme Some Oven.

Ingredients (recipe adapted from Ezra Pound Cake)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
4 Tbsp. (half stick) butter, melted (double this if you like)

Go to Gimme Some Oven for instructions.

Looks Good: Eccles Cakes

Courtesy Just Cook It.

Ingredients
Half a block of ready-made puff pastry
250g currants (convert grams here)
60g unsalted butter
120g golden caster sugar
Nutmeg
Allspice
One egg white
Extra caster sugar for dusting

Go to Just Cook It for instructions.

A Mixed Bag: The Artist Edition I

This special edition of A Mixed Bag features artists who have appeared on Contemporary Confections since it launched in 2006. Here's a look at what some of them are doing today (in no particular order).

Fahamu Pecou, American Dream'n, 2009. Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 82 x 63 in. Courtesy the artist.

Fahamu Pecou (Pineapple Upside Down Cake) has created a new suite of paintings titled Whirl Trade. The works, inspired by the artist's travels abroad, address the impressions, interpretations and misconceptions of blackness that African descended communities perform for each other. Referencing the photos of West African photographer, Malick Sidibe, Pecou's mostly black and white images are, like earlier works, interpreted as faux magazine covers. Whirl Trade will debut at Get This! Gallery in Atlanta on November 14.

Check out the artist's blog, Passage of Right, where he recently posted an excellent message about attire and self-respect; keep up with him on Twitter; and jump to his website to see more images.

Jen P. Harris, Untitled (American Kiss 1), 2009. Ink on paper, 15 x 18 in. Courtesy the artist.

Jen P. Harris (Dark Chocolate) has garnered much deserved attention in recent months. After a slew of group exhibitions, she is preparing for a solo show at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. In her new series of paintings and works on paper, she explores ideas about gender, sexual identity, the self and other. Conversations is on view December 4-March 21, 2010. The artist will give a public talk on December 9.

Harris's design company Black Sheep Heap has partnered with the non-profit organization CAMFED to design and print a t-shirt to raise awareness and funds for their efforts to educate girls and eradicate poverty in Africa. (Nice!) From December 16-20, visit Harris/Black Sheep Heap at the Brooklyn Flea GIFTED Market (Lafayette & E. 4th Street in Manhattan), where she plans to unveil her highly anticipated Veggie Ornaments.

Gabriel J. Shuldiner, Same Old Madness, 2009. Modified acrylic polymer emulsion, PBk9, alkyd resin, cement, oxidized sterling silver chain and two clasps. Overall dimensions variable, approximately 2 x 2 x .5 in. © Gabriel J. Shuldiner.

Gabriel J. Shuldiner (Red Velvet Cupcakes and Banana Pudding) has started his own line of jewelery inspired by his paintings. Though his Fluers De Mal collection is not scheduled to launch until spring 2010, there is already a waiting list for his Black Chunk necklaces, which appeared on a New York fashion runway earlier this year. (I have two of them and, trust me, they're hot!) A few limited-edition pieces are now available for purchase in the "curated" shop at David Barton Gym, Astor Place. Prototypes can be found on the artist's temporary blog.

In exhibition news, Shuldiner's paintings are included in the group exhibition Silent Spring at Gallery 151; closes November 25. In January, the luxury furniture store VASTU in Washington, D.C. will host a solo exhibition of the artist's work. And in 2010, Shuldiner will participate in Artist In The Marketplace (AIM) 30 at the Bronx Museum.

Brendan Fernandes, Foe, 2008. Video projection, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

Brendan Fernandes (Wine Gums) -- who is currently in residence at the Gyeonggi Creation Center in Seoul, Korea -- will participate in several shows over the next year, including: Invisible Homes at SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco (opens December 11); Accented at BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn (opens January 21); Agyu Vitrines at the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (opens January 21); and Afrika Shop, a solo exhibition and project commissioned by Art in General, New York (November 2010). Visit Fernandes's website to browse through his latest projects.

Kambui Olujimi, The Clouds Are After Me, 2008. Acrylic, paper, and ink on vellum, 12 x 9 in. each. via Okay Great.

Kambui Olujimi (Italian Cheesecake or Cream Puffs) explores the anxieties and phobias that permeate the public and private sectors of our lives and nation in his upcoming exhibition, The Clouds Are After Me. Through a series of wanted posters, picturing clouds as the perpetrators, Olujimi draws parallels between the "elusive and ever present dangers" the we both run from and seek. The exhibition opens at Saatchi & Saatchi (375 Hudson St., NYC) on November 19. A public talk between the artist and curator Naomi Beckwith will be held December 10.

Wardell Milan, Drawings of Harlem (detail), 2009. Courtesy the artist.

Wardell Milan (Six Bars of Chocolate) has produced a series of drawings based on his photographs of Harlem; they are currently on view at the Studio Museum. Drawings of Harlem originated from Milan’s 2008 sketches created for the pages of Studio magazine. Upon completing the sketches, the museum invited Milan (their former artist in residence) to continue drawing throughout the following year. The resulting exhibition comprises more than forty works on paper. Drawings of Harlem is on view through March 2010. On January 14, the museum will host a public discussion between Milan and Harlem historian John Reddick.

Annysa Ng, Tea Silk and Porcelain VIII, 2008. Ink on paper, 30 x 22 in. Courtesy the artist.

Annysa Ng (Sweet Soup) is gearing up for her first solo exhibition in Europe. Her Eyes Closed explores topics of identity and reality as perceived through various states of consciousness. Her black and white drawings reflect the solitude of the unconscious state when uninterrupted by the five colors taught in ancient Chinese philosophy. In the philosophy of Lao Zi, the five colors are said to make people blind. In Dao, they are interpreted as the material world; black and white represents the unity of the Yin and the Yang. Her Eyes Closed opens at Holster Projects in London on November 19.

Agitators Collective, Who Will Save Beauty?, 2009. Hand-drawn wheat paste on side of building, 20 x 10 feet. Courtesy the artists.

Brendan Carroll (Chew Chips Ahoy I and II) and his crew Agitators Collective have created Who Will Save Beauty?, a multiform installation (hand-drawn wheat pastes, murals, shredded paper, hopscotch courts, and ink jet prints) at The 58 Gallery. Carroll says, "We tried to develop an iconography that represents Jersey City [where the gallery is located]. The icons range from the mundane -- donuts, dead pigeons, hair extensions, underwear -- to the fantastical -- minotaurs, devils, and monsters." The exhibition is on view November 13-30.

Carroll has also curated the exhibition Ann Flaherty: Land of Light and Shadows for the Jersey City Museum (JCM). Flaherty's paintings are installed in the lobby of the Majestic Theatre Condominiums, a rotating gallery featuring works by local artists, and curated by JCM staff. The show continues through November 28.

Eye Candy: Will Cotton Bakery

The temporary bakery of artist Will Cotton opened today at Partners & Spade (40 Great Jones St.) in Manhattan.

The display of baked goods.

A pink-frosted cake straight out of a Cotton painting.

Cupcakes.

Cotton (right) at work in the gallery's design space/makeshift kitchen.

Apple Caramel Tarts and Chocolate Raspberry Cakes.

A spread of ginger, lemon and other flavors of macaroon ahead of Cotton's sleek monogrammed packaging.

 

Like a true baker, Cotton looks closely at what's happening in the mixer.

Cotton and his assistants (who wore W-emblazoned aprons and cutesy headpieces) were being photographed by a few different people at once.

The artist-baker steps away from production to inspect a cake.

The bakery was busy with customers just a half hour after opening to the public.

Torn between the macaroons and the apple tart, I went with the cake. The verdict: this flawless mix of raspberry and chocolate, with a crispy outside and a moist center, was worth every penny ($7.59) and more.

You can view and purchase Cotton's confections at Partners & Spade on Sundays, Nov. 15 and Nov. 22.

More info:
The Moment: Will Cotton, Fabulous Baker Boy
The Daily Beast: Will Cotton's Candy-Coated Dreams
The Errant Aesthete: Cotton's Candied Confections
Artinfo.com: The Art of Eating

Eye Candy: Peter Fischli and David Weiss

Sun, Moon and Stars installation. Photo: N. Caruth.

Peter Fischli and David Weiss have amassed 800 magazine advertisements in their installation Sun, Moon and Stars. Displayed in thirty-eight wood and glass tables, the ads are shown in a specific order that brings to bear their formal, narrative and color similarities. @ Matthew Marks Gallery through Jan. 16, 2010.

A Mixed Bag (11.03.09)

Nicholas Potter's "Enterprise Dog Power" treadmill, designed to power butter churns and other small farm machines, ca. 1881. Courtesy Cabinet Magazine.

Most Anticipated Performa 09 Event by Artists I've Never Heard of: Speed Reading -- a 90-minute relay race featuring 25-35 writers and artists who will read aloud short texts related to the theme of speed while running on treadmills. Presented by Cabinet Magazine at Definitions Gym (Union Square). Nov. 14 @ 6pm.

All Kinds of Wrong: The CEO of Safeway has inspired an insurance plan that discriminates according to body size.

A Full Plate: Writer Paula Crossfield reflects on President Obama's first year in food system reform.

Loan Evaluation: James Gardner (formerly of the New York Sun) analyzes the Obamas taste in art one slide at a time.

Going Local: How contemporary art collectors are staying closer to home.

Pipilotti Rist with a twist (of orange and brandy).

Curious Sex: A gay man accounts his "experiment" with a woman, writing "I found that boobs only served to confuse me."

Strange Fruit in the Streets: Artist Malachi Farrell uses shoes hanging on wires in the streets as metaphor for poverty and recession: Are we hanging by a thread? Opens Nov. 13 at Jane Kim/thrust projects.

Vamp Wear: Taking the term "fang banger" to a new low.

Pomegranate Coconut Quick Bread with a dollop of strength training and a dash of cardio.

Congrats and Corn: The visual art website Glasstire has won first prize for New Projects in the National Arts Journalism competition. Check out their current video feature The Corn Crib.

Growth Spurt: Divine Caroline's comparison of portions sizes in the past vs. today has sparked a lively discussion in her comment forum. Who's responsible for what we eat?

Bliss: The Messy Cook shares a recipe for Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate-peanut butter glaze.

On Shaky Ground: Hard to believe it's been 20 years since Loma Prieta. How disaster-ready are you?