ADDA

Rendez-vous in Paris with Subodh Gupta

Franck Barthelemy

Subodh Gupta was invited to participate in acreative residency at La Monnaie de Paris lastFebruary. He worked with the highly skilledartisans of France’s historical mint who hadmade thousands of medals throughout the last century. The artist created with them a Florentine bronze medal. He had access to the La Monnaie de Paris’ rich archive and found a very unique and unusual medal created by Salvador Dali representing an accumulation of spoons, something Gupta’s eyes could not have missed. Though I have never tried his cuisine, I am told the artist is a great chef and foodie. Dali’s medal inspired him to create his, with an accumulation of Indian spices: garam masala. Pepper grains, star anise, cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds and cinnamon sticks found their way on the medal, a work of collaborative passion between the artisans