Art and drinking have always mixed. Ask any poor college student who’s taken advantage of the free wine served at gallery openings (and for those indigent NYU undergrads out there, here is the source for happy hour plans). Nothing improves a canvas, opens the checkbook of a patron, or “relaxes” a model more than a glass of the strong stuff.
Most struggling artists would probably be content with a little cheap wine or a six-pack. But a few of the most acclaimed artists deserve more. They’ve reached true fame. They have a drink named after them.
Many of the greats of modern art have been paid homage in cocktail form. It’s no surprise that self-promoters like Picasso and Dali have had cocktails named after them. Picasso’s composition calls for 1 ½ oz Cognac, ½ oz red Dubonnet, ½ oz lime juice, and 1 tsp sugar with an orange twist. Dali’s received a full bar’s worth of drinks named after him and his paintings; this article alone includes enough to make your watch melt.
Personally, I’d like to see some more contemporary artists get their due. Their artwork often evokes a certain cocktail to begin with. Painter Elizabeth Peyton, that chronicler of the glamorously bohemian, deserves nothing less than the classic French 75 (2 oz gin, ½ lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar, 5 oz champagne). Cremaster-auteur and Bjork-shtupper Matthew Barney calls for something as creamy as the vaseline that populates his films and sculptures, something like the White Whale (1 ½ oz white rum, 5 oz milk, cinnamon). And the bleak images of Marlene Dumas suggest only one suitable pour: Drano. Chilled.
But some current artists are so unique that they deserve their own, completely original drink. Pipilotti Rist counts as one of them (check out her cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game if you don’t believe me). This installation artist/musician/video artist/god-knows-what is currently showing Pour Your Body Out at New York’s MOMA. Sitting inside a massive room filled with images of red and pinks liquids, tulips, and pigs eating apples provides about the closest you’re about to get to actually swimming around in a cocktail yourself. But until Rick Moranis returns to make Honey, I Shrunk the Bartender, you’ll just have to drink a few of them instead, sans pig, then pour your body into a cab.
The Pipilotti 1 ½ oz brandy 2 or 3 dashes of orange bitters 3 oz of champagne Float of Chambord
Shake the brandy and orange bitters with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Fill with champagne and float the Chambord on top.