Dead cock & bull art makes diners eat

0

Who’s having the chicken then? – Source by dailychilli

Internationally renowned British artist Damien Hirst has created an art piece for a London restaurant in which a whole Hereford cow and cockerel are preserved in formaldehyde in a steel and glass tank, smack dab in the middle of the dining room. Called Cock And Bull, the showpiece towers four metres above diners at Tramshed (chickenandsteak.co.uk) which—surprise—serves only steak and whole roasted chicken.

Like a giant aquarium mounted on a TV stand, the art installation is an extension of Hirst’s Natural History (damienhirst.com), a collection of preserved animals he’s been creating since 1991—arguably his most famous series.

Hirst also created a painting for the restaurant opening entitled Beef And Chicken which hangs on the mezzanine level and depicts the 1990s cartoon characters Cow And Chicken.

In the basement level, the Cock And Bull gallery showcases a rotating art exhibit every six weeks. The first exhibition, Quantum Jumping, features art work themed around “jumping into a parallel dimension” and runs until 1st July.

Hirst stands beside the 2006 piece ‘I Am Become Death, Shatterer Of Worlds’, butterflies and household gloss on canvas, on display at his solo exhibition at the Tate Modern museum in London. The retrospective showcase of his work over two decades runs until 9th September 2012. – Source by dailychilli

The classically British menu by chef and restaurateur Mark Hix, meanwhile, is conducive to family-style dining with whole roasted, free-range chickens or marbled sirloin steaks, both served with fries. Appetizers include Yorkshire pudding with whipped chicken livers, cauliflower salad, and smoked Cornish mackerel with beets and horseradish.

It’s not unusual for restaurants to house the collections of famous and interesting artists, given the synergy between food and ambiance. Pierre Gagnaire’s eponymous restaurant in Paris, for instance, houses works from the Galerie Lelong, while Wolfgang Puck has also turned his restaurant space into an exhibit for a roster of rotating artists at his CUT steakhouse in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, restaurants like Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin in New York, Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social in London and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market in London have been shortlisted in the Restaurant & Bar Design. – Source by dailychilli

The 1991 piece ‘The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Someone Living’, a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine. – Source by dailychilli

The 1993 piece ‘Mother And Child Divided’, composed of a cow and a calf sliced in half in glass tanks of formaldehyde. – Source by dailychilli

A 1991 work entitled ‘A Thousand Years’, with flies feeding off a cow’s head. – Source by dailychilli