FOOD as Art, Art as Life
The restaurant FOOD set the table for the early Soho art scene. In 1971, artists Carol Goodden and Gordon Matta-Clark opened FOOD to be an artwork in itself, and it became a collective creative project that helped define Soho as an artists’ district. The whole restaurant was like a stage, brightly illuminated. Artists worked as guest chefs and invented dishes and themed events. FOOD’s run was short, closing in 1974. Goodden wrote: “Though we consumed FOOD, FOOD consumed us.”