Paintings

Loving this: One artist turns sun energy into deliciousness

If it’s true that the best things in life are free, and that we all scream for ice cream, then artist Spencer Finch is most likely rousing a gaggle of New Yorkers to jump in delicious ecstasy.

Leaving aside any arguments about whether edible art can indeed be art in the traditional sense — and whether some sort of high-tech, solar-powered food truck can indeed also be art — Finch’s Sunset (Central Park) is what the artist describes as “edible monochrome.”

This approach was derived after Finch painted a watercolor of the New York City park during sunset. The hues were extracted to create a color guide for the soft-serve ice cream that’s offered for free — a “poetic gesture in reverence of summer sunsets.”

Sunset, was previously presented at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

About Spencer Finch:

Finch is renowned for his installations, sculptures and works on paper, drawn from the most intangible of subjects, such as shadows of passing clouds or the particular quality of natural light.

Finch uses scientific means, such as precise measurements and record keeping, to denote or recreate momentary experiences in color and light, filtering perception through the lens of nature, history, literature, and memory. Compelled by what he describes as “the impossible desire to see oneself seeing,” Finch holds up an enchanting prism between the outer world and inner thought; between physiological and psychological perception. Finch is responsible for several iconic public commissions at sites such as the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, and the Highline in collaboration with Creative Time.

Finch also worked with Creative Time in 1991, creating a guerilla audio guide with Paul Ramírez Jonas to 19 masterpieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.