Starving Artists' Cookbook records, 1970-2022, undated

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Summary

Creators:

EIDIA (Artist group), Lamarre, Paul, and Wolf, Melissa

Abstract:

An archive of Food Sex Art: The Starving Artists' Cookbook, a project by performance artist Paul Lamarre and videographer Melissa Wolf that lasted from roughly 1986 to 1993 and featured interviews with over 150 artists cooking in their kitchens. The collection primarily includes the taped interviews conducted by Lamarre and Wolf, and is complemented by manuscripts and correspondence pertaining to the interviews and artists' book; photographic materials that document the interviews; and original artworks related to the recipes submitted by the artists that were featured in Food Sex Art.

Extent:

25.84 Linear Feet (51 boxes)

Language:

Collection material is in English, with some Italian and German.

Preferred citation:

Starving Artists' Cookbook records, 1970-2022, undated, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2022.M.63.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2022m63

Background

Scope and content:

The collection documents Food Sex Art: The Starving Artists' Cookbook, an interview and artists' book project by performance artist Paul Lamarre and videographer Melissa Wolf that lasted from roughly 1986 to 1993 and featured numerous artists from New York City and Europe. The collection primarily includes taped interviews conducted by Lamarre and Wolf with artists cooking in their kitchens, with more than seventy hours of raw footage on U-matic videotapes; the complete 3/4 inch master tapes for the final, edited, ten-hour video series; the published six-volume set of VHS videotapes; and a one-volume highlight compilation on DVD.

The video bank is complemented by printed ephemera, manuscripts, and correspondence pertaining to the interviews and artists' book; photographic materials that document the interviews; and original drawings, photographs, collages, and multimedia works on paper that were submitted by the artists featured in Food Sex Art. A total of 215 artists participated in the project, as some submitted recipes and artworks, but were not taped for interviews.

Biographical / historical:

Artists Paul Lamarre (Monroe, Michigan; 1950-) and Melissa P. Wolf (Buffalo, New York; 1965-) are a married couple, and have collaborated since 1986 under the pseudonym EIDIA (pronounced "idea"). Lamarre received his BFA in painting, ceramics, and photography from the University of Michigan in 1979, and moved to New York City the following year. Wolf attended earned a BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts / Tufts University and an MFA from Pratt Institute.

Lamarre and Wolf started working together in 1983 on the video series The Chelsea Tapes, a series of 26 video vignettes forming an autobiographical diary of Lamarre's extended stay at the famous Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, a project made possible by a fellowship from the New York Creative Artist's Program Service. Shortly thereafter, Lamarre and Wolf founded EIDIA, a name derived from the ancient Greek word for idea, "eidos," and as an acronym had many possible meanings that partly outline the artists' intentions: Each Idea Defines Itself Aesthetically; Esthetic Interpretation Directs Imaginative Action; Everything I Do Is Art; Every Individual Does Individual Art; Every Individual Develops Ideal Aesthetics; Every Intellect Develops Intuitive Art; and Ecological Involvement Demands Immediate/Individual Action.

For years, the two artists have worked purposefully outside of the traditional commercial gallery system, and their multifaceted practice has been grounded in an actual space: EIDIA House in Williamsburg, New York, which functions as a studio, as well as an exhibition and gathering space. They sustain their practice mainly through residencies, grants, and fellowships, such as the ones awarded to them by the University of Sydney (2011); the Santa Fe Art Institute (2006); the Nathan Cummings Foundation (2000); Open Society Institute (Soros Documentary Fund Fellowship, 1999 and 1997); New York Kunsthalle (1996); Citizens Exchange Council (International ArtsLink Fellowship for Collaborative Projects, 1994); Artists Space (Individual Artists' Grant, 1989); New York Foundation for the Arts (Video Fellowship, 1987); The Kitchen (Media Bureau Grant, 1985); and the New York Creative Artist's Program Service (1982).

Food Sex Art: The Starving Artists' Cookbook (1986-1993) was EIDIA's first project, and consisted of a series of interviews by Lamarre with artists while they cooked in their kitchens. The project culminated in the publication of an artists' cookbook in 1991 and a ten-hour video series that was screened over week-long celebrations in 1989 and 2001 at Anthology Film Archives, whose founder, Jonas Mekas, was a participant and ardent supporter of the project. Lamarre and Wolf later worked on the documentary The NEA Tapes (1995-2001), which chronicled the threatened dismantling of The National Endowment for the Arts with more than 300 interviews of artists, art professionals, politicians, and religious leaders.

During the 2000s, EIDIA shifted its focus to ecological awareness with a durational performance titled Deconsumption and the Deconsumptionists, combining the Duchampian readymade with the contemporary and pressing need to declutter and recycle. As part of this performance, the duo sold hundreds of found objects they reclaimed as art at EIDIA House, and then packed 171 boxes of collective works, ephemera, and correspondence onto a 48-foot semitrailer. The trailer was then exhibited first at the Santa Fe Art Institute in 2006, and later at the Sydney College for the Arts in Australia in 2011.

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 2022.

Custodial history:

All materials in the collection were produced or collected by Lamarre and Wolf and remained in their property until their transfer to the Getty Library in 2022.

Processing information:

Melodi Chin processed Series I and partially processed Series II and III in early 2023. Monet Malcolm processed Series III in summer 2023. Sarah Mackenzie Wade finalized the arrangement and description in 2024.

Original folder titles were maintained.

Arrangement:

The archive is arranged in three series: Series I. Artist files, 1971-2022, undated; Series II. Administrative files, 1982-2022, undated; and Series III. Audiovisual materials, 1970-1995, undated.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Art, Modern -- 20th century
Artists -- Interviews
Food in art
Artists' books
Chromogenic color prints
Color slides
Contact sheets
Cookbooks
Correspondence
Digital prints
Gelatin silver prints
Inkjet prints
Photographs, Original
Printed ephemera -- 20th century
Recipes
Video art
Videocassettes

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers. Born-digital content and audiovisual materials are unavailable until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.