OPENING
Saturday, July 13th
2-6pm Open Hours
6-9pm Reception
ARTIST TALK
Wednesday, July 17th
7pm-9pm
Notes of Grain is an exploration of legacy and inheritance through the lens of recipes, highlighting the intergenerational knowledge embedded in culinary traditions. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy’s grandfather’s agricultural roots in Fujian and his parents’ Chinese American takeout, the artwork centers on rice and monosodium glutamate (MSG) as key elements. Rice is a staple grain in Chinese cuisine. Early forms of masonry also utilized glutinous rice in junction with limestone as a mortar. By exploring the cultural and ritual significance of rice and addressing the stigmatization of monosodium glutamate as a discriminatory practice in American society, particularly within Chinese American takeout restaurants, Notes of Grain invites viewers to rethink aesthetic hierarchies and critique the relationship between labor and worth within capitalism.
Since 2020, Jimmy has been cultivating a visual vocabulary composed of ingredients and imagery from my upbringing within his family’s Chinese American takeout. His practice investigates the themes of legacy and inheritance through the architecture of a recipe. The ingredients of rice and monosodium glutamate lie at the bedrock of this artistic inquiry. Jimmy is drawn to the format of a recipe in how it nurtures pathways of thought that converge mind, body, and material. He explores how this medium’s written and embodied capacities to examine multigenerational knowledge can be preserved and transformed.
Jimmy Zhao’s “Notes of Grain” plated as Week 3 of Tapas.
Photos by the lovely @farfar_studio_
61 Wyckoff Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11237
Est. 2023