Jasper Johns Grilled Cheese
by Leah Rosenberg
Around this time last year, we mentioned the grilled cheese sandwich which was a quite literally inspired by Jasper Johns' lead relief "Bread" that was part of "Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind's Eye" exhibition.
This year, in honor of his 84th birthday (tomorrow!), we are going to show you how it's done. Not how a Jasper Johns lead relief is done (I wouldn't eat that), but rather how a Jasper Johns grilled cheese is made. Ready?
Step 1: Slice the bread, which is a sweet loaf from Acme Bread Company – the perfect texture for grilled cheese.
photo: Willa Koerner, SFMOMA
Step 2: Add layers of cheese and butter. After an arduous cheese tasting to see which two cheeses paired best, we in the end decided on a Vella Daisy Cheddar + goat Cave Aged Gruyere.
Step 3: Press it, press it good. I usually sing this as I put the sandwich into the press and then let it be for 3 minutes until golden. You see, the whole process of making a grilled cheese based on a famous artwork is super fun, but what makes it even more fun is if you make up a ridiculous song about making it in the process
photo: Willa Koerner, SFMOMA
Step 4: Gently place grilled cheese on slate. Jasper Johns's "Bread," is a lead panel with a piece of bread on it, so we made the grilled cheese to serve on a to-scale board painted to look like lead. It was a giant, oversized board people would carry back to their table. Curator Kate Mendillo actually escorted us down one day to see the piece before the show opened so we could measure the "bread" piece to figure out where exactly to place the sandwich on the board. We wanted it to be as true to size as manageable. Can you tell which is the real 'wich?
Jasper Johns, Bread, 1969; lead relief with laminated embossed paper, hand-colored in oil, ed. 19/60; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA // Johns Grilled Cheese sandwich on painted board.
Step 6: Admire your craftsmanship and consider Jasper Johns' words: "Take an object. Do something to it. Then do something else to it." Whether you knew of Johns' work or not, I will assume you need no help figuring out what to do with this object next. Enjoy it!
In addition to SFMOMA having one of these pieces as part of the Don and Doris Fisher Collection, I have also noticed it is part of The Nasher Collection in Dallas, Texas. So while you are eating your grilled cheese, you might want to peruse their site where you can view their entire collection.