Adria’s “Notes on Creativity” is the first major exhibition dedicated to the visualization and drawing practices of this culinary master. The exhibition presents drawings, notes, notebooks, diagrams, pictograms and prototypes by Adrià and his collaborators. We caught up with Adrià at the exhibit, which is currently running at the Drawing Center in New York City.
Interview
Edel Rodriguez: The Power of Illustration
InterviewCommentI think there are a lot of stories that magazines tell with photo essays that could have a different impact if they were told through drawings. I created an illustrated essay for Time magazine years ago, titled “A Vision of Cuba," a detailed accounting of stories I came across while driving around Cuba in the 1990s.
Irene Mohedano: A Moving Artist
InterviewCommentHispanic artist Irene Mohedano moved to the U.S. from Spain a mere three years ago as an intellectual scholarship recipient, hoping to learn from and contribute to the New York City art scene. Leaving behind a country that no longer could support the young professional and a traditionalist culture, she began to push new boundaries of art through performance and installation in the U.S.
Bolivian Llama Party Brings Salteñas to Smorgasbord
InterviewComment"Back in Bolivia, in Cochabamba, there is a busy avenue, called El Prado, with a strip of restaurants, bars and chicherias. It’s where everyone goes to take out a date or family. There’s a beautiful promenade at the end of the avenue, but right before it, you’ll see Oogi. It’s a modest looking salteña shop, which boasts, I think, the best salteñas in Bolivia."
Martín Ainstein & The Provocation of South American Soccer
InterviewCommentEvery country plays as they are. Brazil wasn't truthful to themselves, to what they are supposed to be. I mean playing soccer as the expression of culture. And that's why they failed. Brazil has to be fun, has to be creative, and has to have players with the characteristics that historically have represented Brazilian soccer.
Sandwich de Chicharrón At Union Square
InterviewCommentChurros in Nolita
InterviewCommentRed Hook's Famous Pupusa Place
InterviewCommentHoboken's Essential Tamal
InterviewComment"I started selling Cuban-style, fresh corn tamales at Zafra, when we opened our restaurant in 2000. Today we make about five different types from different parts of Latin America. We felt that tamales were an essential part of the Latin American diet, and one of the most spectacular foods from our part of the world. It was inconceivable to open a Cuban-Latino restaurant without tamales."
Empanadas in Times Square
InterviewCommentFamous Jackson Heights Arepa Lady
InterviewCommentLos Perros Locos, Lower East Side
InterviewCommentLa Cevicheria, Rockaway Beach
InterviewCommentRockaway Tacos
InterviewCommentEat the Book: Maricel Presilla
InterviewCommentI know how to cook, but I had to teach myself the foods of Latin America, because being Cuban doesn’t prepare you to cook Peruvian or Mexican. I always say this book could only have been done in this country. If I had been in Peru, I wouldn’t have been able to get the chiles from Mexico. If I had been in Mexico I wouldn’t have been able to get Andean hot peppers.
The Latin American Film Scene with Richard Peña
InterviewCommentFor me, the past decade or so of Latin American film production has been, artistically, the most interesting decade since the Sixties. The current movement can be said to have started in Argentine at the end of the 1990s, but soon there was exciting new work coming from Mexico, Chile, and other countries as well.
G.T. Pellizzi's Food Cravings
InterviewCommentJesús Sánchez & El Cenador de Amós
InterviewCommentCustomers have to come all the way here. You need to present something that people will drive out for. When we opened we offered a more conservative cuisine, quite traditional and reminiscent of Navarra, where I come from. In 1995 we made a turn into a more personal cuisine, which evolved into the signature cuisine that we are now known for.
The Latino List and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
InterviewCommentThe “List” projects, from their inception have been multi-media. I direct and co-produce. I also photograph all of the subjects on my large-format view camera. The interviews, aside from being used in the film, become text for the books. The photographs find their way to the walls of museums and onto the pages of our books. True synergy.