Dean Kaufman

SHISEDO: HANATSUBAKI / Rirkrit Tiravanija

February 17, 2020

A 30 year running strain of Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija’s work has been to ignore the focus solely on the art object and instead focus on the interactions between people and their surroundings turning exhibition and other spaces into stages or rooms in which he prepares and shares meals with the viewers.
A recent commission to photograph him in his New York, East Village apartment was particularly special then to have him prepare a meal for Akiko Ichikawa and I for Shisedo’s 70-year-old HANATSUBAKI magazine. As a regular feature, various artists are asked to cook a meal of their own design using a particular set of Japanese tableware called Oryoki. These wooden nesting bowls have been and continue to be used by Zen Buddhist monks for taking their personal meals in what could be simply described as a meditative form and process of eating.