Whistler's Audain Art Museum announces summertime Audain Artist Dinner Series
Visual artist Manabu Ikeda and chef Koji Chiba offer a summery taste and tour of Japanese art
Koji Chiba.
FINE ART, FOOD, and drink are natural bedmates, and the Audain Art Museum in Whistler combines all three this summer with its Audain Artist Dinner Series.
The 2023 edition is Manabu Ikeda + Chef Koji Chiba: A Summer Taste & Tour of Japanese Art. It takes place July 7 and 21 and August 11 and 25.
This event is inspired by Japan’s summer festivals and the artwork featured in the AAM’s special forthcoming exhibition, Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage. Ikeda’s first major solo exhibition in North America, the show features over 60 works from national and international public, private and corporate collections.
Manabu Ikeda,
Ikeda draws from his natural surroundings to bring attention and awe to viewers while raising the alarm about environmental disasters. Central to his practice are metaphors of human grief and aspects of life that are often beyond society’s control, namely due to the fundamental forces of Mother Nature. Ikeda’s drawings also reveal human resilience and the ability to rise above devastating situations when it appears impossible.
The artist’s emotional engagement with the impact of natural and human-caused disasters eventually led him to produce Rebirth, his most significant work to date. In this large-scale drawing, Ikeda depicts a collision of humankind, nature, and an environmental calamity—and an ensuing regeneration. Ikeda’s sensitive observation of microscopic worlds in the wake of Japan’s natural disasters addresses inevitable catastrophes, as Ikeda blurs the boundaries between reality and his vision of hope for the future.
Koji Chiba.
The all-inclusive dinner includes a signature cocktail reception, a six-course omakase-style menu with wine and sake pairings prepared by chef Koji Chiba, plus an exclusive tour of the exhibition with the artist Ikeda.
A private chef, Chiba entered the world of hospitality and culinary arts at a five-star hotel in Tokyo, in 2003. There, he cooked for and served the Emperor of Japan, the King of Sweden, prime ministers and other world leaders, including members of the G8 summit. After seven years at Nagomi Sushi in Whistler’s Upper Village, hdecided to branch out on his own. His tasting menus can contain as many as 18 dishes.
Omakase is a form of Japanese dining where guests trust the chef, leaving themselves in the culinary artist’s hands for a meal that is elegant, fresh, and unlike anything they have tried before. Guests also have the option to pick which table they are seated at when purchasing tickets, giving them the opportunity to dine with the Ikeda; the museum’s director and chief curator, Curtis Collins; and the AAM’s Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator, Kiriko Watanabe.
More juicy details are here.
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