Art Boozel blends cocktail culture with the art world
New book by Jennifer Croll and Kelly Shami features original recipes for drinks inspired by everyone from Salvador Dalí to Frida Kahlo to the Guerilla Girls
Frida Kahlo is among the iconic artists featured in Art Boozel. Illustration by Kelli Shami
ASK ANY BARTENDER or “mixologist” if they consider their work crafting cocktails to be an artform, and chances are they’ll say yes. Cocktail culture has led to libations that are as imaginative, artistic, and visually appealing as they are delicious.
A new book expands on the creativity of alcoholic beverages by linking them to the art world, complete with original recipes for tribute drinks dedicated to iconic art makers.
Art Boozel: Cocktails Inspired by Modern and Contemporary Artists (Chronicle Books) is the latest from Vancouver writer Jennifer Croll and New York City-based illustrator Kelly Shami. (The two had previously collaborated on 2018’s Free the Tipple: Kickass Cocktails Inspired by Iconic Women [Prestel].)
Salvador Dalí, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Yoko Ono, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Takashi Murakami are among the creatives whom Croll and Shami raise a glass to in their fun, fact-filled hardcover book.
The Andy Warhol from Art Boozel. Illustration by Kelly Shami
“Creating the cocktails in this book required hours of absorbing artists’ work and feeling awestruck by their brilliance,” Croll says in her introduction.
The jumping-off point for each drink was a certain aspect of the featured artist’s life or career.
The gin-based Louise Bourgeois, for instance, features a garnish made of eight fresh sage leaves arranged to look like spider’s legs, evoking her famous monumental steel sculptures (and by extension, her mother). Watermelon juice is a key ingredient in the Frida Kahlo, conjuring the fruit that the groundbreaking Mexican artist depicted in her last painting. For the Guerrilla Girls—with white rum, cardamom syrup, and fresh lime juice—Croll incorporates pink dragon fruit to give the tipple the same kind of blazing hue as the printed paraphernalia used by the female, feminist group, which fights sexism and racism in the art world. And just as abstract artist Gerhard Richter blurs the lines between painting and photography in his work, his namesake cocktail, with German apple liqueur, is a fittingly cloudy concoction.
Each entry features a brief overview of the featured artist’s background and significance. Croll—editorial director of Vancouver-based Greystone Books whose other titles include Bad Boys of Fashion and Fashion That Changed the World—blends in details like how the early works of neo-pop Jeff Koons consisted of vacuum cleaners behind Plexiglas on display (look for pineapple ice cubes in his golden drink) or how mixed-media artist Patricia Piccinini, best known for her silicone sculptures of hyperrealistic if disturbing hybrid beings, got her start sketching pieces she saw on display at medical museums. (Piccinini’s cocktail is inspired by pineberries, which are crossbred from white strawberries and taste like pineapple.)
Whether illustrating the Piet Mondrian (a boozy ice pop) or a cigarette-sucking Robert Mapplethorpe, Shami, a multidisciplinary artist, has a bold style characterized by a vivid colour palette that catches the eye; maybe one day she’ll have a cocktail created in her honour, too.
In the meantime,* Art Boozel* gives gallery goers and cocktail lovers an inspired excuse to explore the arts with a shaker, strainer, shot glass, and blender by their side.
Find the book at the Polygon Gallery, Iron Dog Books, Nordstrom, and Jackson's General Store, among other retailers.
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