NYC Art Exhibit Will Feature Ferran Adria’s Work At elBulli

A new exhibit at the Drawing Center in New York City focuses on the work of chef Ferran Adria of the legendary elBulli restaurant. Unlike most chefs who begin working on a menu by writing out recipes, Adria would often begin from sketches and illustrations of what he wanted to create. The exhibit titled “Notes on Creativity” features these illustrations along with writings and photographs from famed restaurant elBulli’s past.

A true avant-garde
Adria’s restaurant elBulli was located on the coast of Spain in a town called Roses. It was there that he developed his revolutionary approach to cuisine during the ’80s and ’90s. Using scientific techniques to bring out the natural flavors in food, Adria created a world-class restaurant dedicated to this new art of cooking.

It was during this time that Adria created a new culinary movement in molecular gastronomy. He did so through a uniquely visual approach. Using illustrations and diagrams as well as clay models to display proper plating of dishes, Adria relied on drawing and other visual mediums to create his menu items. His restaurant closed in 2005, and yet all these years later, his drawings remain as relics of his creative process.

Creativity on display
Those interested in the history of modern cuisine are now able to explore the mind of one its greatest innovators. The exhibition at the Drawing Center, which will transfer to Cleveland in the Fall, displays not only Adria’s development sketches but also his illustrated history of cooking and his Decoding the Genome of Cooking display. The exhibition as a whole gives great insight into the workings of a great chef. Students can learn a lot about the creative process of cooking by perusing the various objects on display.