Contemporary art high jinks
Back in the UK after a retrospective at the Beirut Institute of Sandwich Art (BISA), Griddle has released a new work simply called Ham Baguette.
“Beirut is the only place on earth that takes sandwich art seriously,” Griddle said at customs when asked why he had travelled. “They know that a croissant is not a sandwich, no matter what is in it.”
“Sandy” Griddle is a well known artist whose medium is sandwiches. Born Horace Griddle whilst his mother was travelling on the Trans Siberian Railway, his nickname comes from his lifelong interest in sandwiches. “I refused my mother’s milk and they thought I would die as I refused all food, except cheese sandwiches. Now I buy or make sandwiches and then deconstruct them, snap-shotting all the ingredients to produce a shopping list which I then buy to try and recreate the sandwiches. It is a time consuming process that, when it works at its best, results in a new sandwich that is exactly the same as the original sandwich.”
Collectors around the world enjoy Sandy’s work, with his first editions “prawn and lettuce” and “Cheese and pickle” now selling for seven figures.
“I am looking into making my sandwiches into sculptures, which will further push the sandwich art envelope. As far as I know I am the only sandwich fine artist in the world. Of course there are many sandwich artists who make sandwiches to be eaten, but I only know of Figg Wolverham who creates fine art sandwiches, and he only uses rye bread, so his work has nothing of the depth of my own pieces.”