PREVIEW

AssetID: 31790257

Headline: Man Makes Tiny Street Food

Caption: A man had a big idea to make tiny street food. Tom Brown creates diminutive dishes using handmade implements including a miniature oven, tiny pots, pans and knives made from nails. The Calgary artist sets up on street corners and makes titchy-but-tasty portions of foods including dumplings, shepherd’s pie, samosas, pizzas and mushroom-based vegan “steaks” with Brussels sprouts. There are also sweet treats such as waffles and cream and Cheerio-sized doughnuts. Tom explains: "The kitchen is fully functional, built from found materials, and entirely created by hand. The sink is porcelain, the oven, stove and cooler are all made from steel, and the body of the kitchen is wood. I have created many of the designs for devices from scratch, a good example is the stove, which is iteration 37. Over the course of my time working on it, I have created over 125 tools ranging from knives, tongs, bowls, pans to plates and cutlery. "The project began as a live performance entitled Feeding the Masses: I set up the kitchen, and begin cooking food, which I distribute freely to passerbys, typically in a small piece of packaging such as a paper bag, paper plate, miniature to go box, all handmade by myself. Over the course of doing these performances, it has evolved- a big part of the inspiration is a desire to give art away to people for free, and to have it be something they would value enough to keep. The evolution is a new project going by the name Finders Keepers. Every friday, I hide an object (usually a kitchen tool, knives being the most popular) in an obscure or interesting location, then post clues to the whereabouts on social media. Whoever finds it gets to keep it. The idea of a treasure hunt is really appealing to me. "There is a multitude of points of inspiration for the kitchen. As a child I habitually made miniatures, obsessively perhaps. I made them out of a desire to have the objects I was making (guitar, catchers mitt, golf clubs, things little boys want). I also spent many hours searching for rocks at my grandparents cottage- the seminal moment of my childhood was finding a perfectly preserved 2500 year old arrowhead. The joy of that discovery was superb, and I want to create that experience for other people. "I have learned from this project that people are surprisingly open and trusting. When I set up in public, more often than not people will spend the entire 1-2 hours of the performance with me, talking, and sharing intimate details of their philosophy, their experiences with creativity, their beliefs about life. It has allowed me to bridge cultural gaps -specifically during an Artist Residency in Capetown, South Africa. I set up alongside street vendors who were skeptical of me at first (an they should be!). By the end of my performance, they were flagging people down to come see what I was doing, we were talking as friends. A real human connection made across language and cultural barriers via the universal language of food. "My future plans for the kitchen include expanding my range- right now I am shipping the hidden objects to various locations, so far California, Halifax NS, and Washington DC have objects of mine which have been or are about to be hidden. I am also focusing and developing a new object to the accompany the kitchen, the mini mini bar."

Keywords:

PersonInImage: