Jennifer Rubell's Cotton Candy "Padded Cell"

Jennifer Rubell, Padded Cell, November 6, 2010. Cotton candy. Photos: 16 Miles [more]

Jennifer Rubell — writer, vegetable butcher, and member of the gala-as-art movement — presented her latest food installation on Saturday night at Performa 11's "Red Party" fundraiser. Titled "Padded Cell," Rubell's work consisted of giant wooden box with walls made out of pink, sugary cotton candy, free for the eating. It was very pink, very sweet, and very delicious. Sarah Douglas has the full story on Artinfo. (Last year, Rubell staged the epic "Creation" dinner in the old Dia building to inaugurate Performa 09.)

A Brief Guide to Cakes at Museums in the British Isles

Pastries at the Fruitmarket Gallery Café, Edinburgh, Scotland

Guards at many of the museums I visited on a recent swing through Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin very kindly told me not to take pictures of the art on display. In place of tons of photographs of art (though some will be coming in the near future), here is a very short guide to some of the cakes that I saw and ate at various fine institutions around the British Isles. (This post owes a serious debt to C-Monster's delightful trip to El Bulli.)


Gingerbread cookie at the Fruitmarket Gallery Café

The redoubtable Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh had a tantalizing selection of pastries, including these large, joyful gingerbread cookies that had been dipped in chocolate.


A slice or orange and almond polenta cake at Fruitmarket

Check out the zest on that frosting! There's a little bit of a Larry Poons or Cy Twombly feel in the way it has been elegantly scattered across the sweet, citrus-packed icing.


A slice of chocolate ginger root cake at the Gallery Café of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Dense, rich chocolate with just a tiny hint of spice: a Richard Serra sculpture covered with snow.


Chocolate ginger root cake at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art


Carrot cake at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

I couldn't handle a second slice of cake at the Scottish National Gallery, but this moist-looking nutmeg carrot cake looked particularly inviting.


Eduardo Paolozzi, Vulcan, 1998–99. Welded steel, 24 ft. tall. On display in the café of the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh

Because I was too busy staring at the a Boîte-en-valise on display at the Dean Gallery, the other modern art museum in Edinburgh, but this view into its café (which includes a fearsome sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi) was visible from the museum's second floor. Note the café tables hiding behind Paolozzi's Vulcan.


Carrot cake at the café of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, itsa@imma, in Dublin, Ireland

Tucked away in the Irish Museum of Modern Art's basement was a kitchen serving a remarkable carrot cake, a clear rival to MoMA P.S.1's formidable entry in that category.


Baileys Irish Cream cake at Brambles Café at Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane

The Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, named for its founding director (who died on the RMS Lusitania), has outsourced the operation of its café to the Brambles chain, which presented a strong selection of about a dozen different cakes. This Baileys Irish Cream cheesecake was surprisingly light and bracingly alcoholic.


Traditional Victoria jam sponge cake at the café at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Too exhausted and plump after so much cake eating, I could only look longingly at this traditional Victoria jam sponge cake, trying to convince myself that I was satiated by the Vermeer on view upstairs.

Back Soon

Mickalene Thomas, Oh Mickey!, with Bob Spiegel of Creative Edge, hosted by Kreëmart. Performance with pastries, Nov. 3, 2010. Photo: 16 Miles

16 Miles of String is going on a very brief vacation and will return on Monday, August 9. Since this marks (for me), the unofficial end of the 2009-2010 art season, I want to thank everyone who has read along, linked to articles, indulged my ramblings, and said hello over the past twelve months. It has been a pleasure. My pick for the art event of the year (since you asked) — Mickalene Thomas' performance at Kreëmart's dessert event on November 3 — is illustrated above.

While I'm away, you may may be interested in visiting the recently updated Lost Art of New York Map. If you are in New York, the art season is, of course not over. If you haven't gone yet, go see the Lush Life shows before they all close! (A few spaces are still open.) The organizers have posted a video tour of the Lower East Side with author Richard Price, and ARTINFO executive editor Andrew M. Goldstein interviewed him earlier this year.

See you Monday.

MoMA P.S.1's Carrot Cake [16 Miles of Sweets]

Carrot cake at MoMA P.S.1 Photo: 16 Miles [more]

16 Miles of Sweets is an irregularly appearing column that searches for the best desserts in and around art destinations. Previously, baklava in the East Village.

Steven Spielberg supposedly once said that watching Stanley Kubrick’s period film Barry Lyndon was like “walking through the Louvre without lunch”: beautiful but exhausting. The idea of getting through the messy, sprawling “Greater New York” at MoMA P.S.1 without the aid of a hearty meal is even more daunting. Thankfully, the art center’s Le Rosier Cafe never fails to provide the sustenance necessary to endure even the most video-art-heavy shows.

While the cafe's encyclopedic beer menu and homemade sorbets have major supporters, its carrot cake is equally worthy of a fan club: two moist layers adorned with a thick coat of cream-cheese frosting. Flecks of rich orange carrot are scattered throughout the amber cake, muting the potent sweetness of the frosting. It’s a model dessert and easily deserves 6 out of 7 taste points. However, aesthetically, it's a rather typical cake, and while $5.96 is slightly pricey for a slim slice, that is a quibble: good art is expensive (16 Miles of Sweets does not award points based on value), and MoMA P.S.1’s carrot cake is a solid investment.

Taste: 6 out of 7
Look: 1.5 out of 3
Total: 7.5 out of 10

Will Cotton Bakery at Partners & Spade [Photographs]

Will Cotton Bakery at Partners & Spade, 40 Great Jones, New York. Photo: 16 Miles [more]

Will Cotton opened his bakery for its third and final day of business this afternoon at Partners & Spade. Employees sported cupcake crowns that Ron Warren wore for a portrait by Cotton earlier this year. Business seemed to be brisk as the bakers used a table top oven in the store to keep the goods coming.

Macarons, a Cotton speciality, were available in four flavors — vanilla and pink peppercorn, salted caramel, lemon, and pumpkin — though the shop had a 'three macaron limit' to maintain its supply, which forced some tough choices. (After great deliberation, I decided to forgo the salted caramel.) Though they were all perfect, the pumpkin was particularly delightful, with an unbelievably creamy, rich pumpkin filling that tasted like an expertly made pumpkin pie. The French staple had never felt so thoroughly American.

There were also miniature chocolate cakes, superbly decorated birthday cake slices, a remarkable selection of cupcakes, madeleines dusted with confectioners' sugar, and other treats. In back, one of Cotton's classic disrobed women haughtily peered down from a painting as she luxuriated in a pink, sugar-filled utopia. Cotton's shop may be the closest we ever come to her world.