PARK Magazine

DINING
Janis Gardner Cecil, Alex Katz
and Chef Daniel Boulud at
DANIEL, October 2021, in front
of Katz’s painting, Tree, 2019.
The main dining room at DANIEL with Water Hyacinth, 2009, by Alex Katz.
Photographed by Thomas Schauer
you learn things about it. I think of a dish in that way;
there is a different way of reflecting on it, especially when
it becomes artistic.
JGC: Having the level of cuisine we are talking about here,
which is what you create, is a complex thing. Savoring it,
literally digesting it into your own body, is another way of
internalizing a piece of art. I mean, we can never eat a
painting, but it certainly affects your
‘‘I THINK THAT
ALEX KATZ IS
A GRADUATION TO
THE MASTER!”
soul. And I have to say that really
amazing food absolutely affects you.
And, like visual art, the more you
know about the technique and the
thought behind the process, the more
you appreciate it.
Alex Katz: “A graduation to the master!”
JGC: The installation of paintings by Alex Katz has
been very well received. Do you have a favorite painting
of the four that are on view?
DB: Yes, well since I have been having art in all of my
restaurants, I think that Alex Katz is a graduation to the
master!
I think the one I like the most is the little tree. Of course,
I love the hyacinths and the freshness of the hyacinths and
the garden, but the little tree in the prairie, not even a prairie,
exactly, but that lonely tree. This is the kind of painting I
would love to have at home because I would never get tired
of it. This is the kind of painting [that] you can meditate
in front of, it will be there for you, and you feel good with it.
It’s very special.
JGC: Well, when you look at that painting up close, you
can see that there are many layers of color wash in the
technique. It’s very sophisticated. It’s a bit deceptive because
from afar you think it might be simple.
DB: That’s what I love, the shadowy layers of the color wash.
It’s really abstract in a way, but then the tree in the middle
of that makes the whole thing work. It’s almost like the
preparation of the base was more important than the tree,
and then the tree brings a focus to that.
JGC: The painting is almost a purely abstract painting,
with a color field, but then when Katz adds the tree, the
color field becomes the ground and there is a horizon created
with the washes. The tree completely changes the
understanding of the painting; what had been “abstract”
becomes a landscape.
My Dream: “A studio for myself ”
DB: My real dream one day will be to build a studio for
myself, and maybe paint for myself. I don’t think it will be
for any commercial purpose, just for myself.
JGC: That’s a wonderful thing! Well, in the meantime we
are the beneficiaries of all of your creativity! There is so
much amazing material here, Daniel, thank you so much.
The Alex Katz and Robert Mapplethorpe installation
will be on view at Restaurant DANIEL through August
2023. P
danielnyc.com
jgcfineart.com