Artist's palate: Oliver Beer’s sesame and peanut candy

The British artist's Korean-inspired fusion of fruit, nuts and seeds is music to our tastebuds, as featured in our monthly recipe series

Artist Oliver Beer's recipe for Sesame and peanut candy as featured in April 2021 issue of Wallpaper*
(Image credit: François Coquerel, Food: Lei Saito)
By TF Chan
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François Coquerel - Photography

For a 2019 solo exhibition at the Met Breuer, titled ‘Vessel Orchestra’, artist Oliver Beer presented 32 hollow objects from the Met’s collection, across many time periods and places, ranging from an ancient Persian jar to a ‘Shiva’ vase by Ettore Sottsass. Suspending a microphone in each of them to capture the specific note at which sound would resonate, he created a two-and-a-half octave instrument that could be played like a piano, revealing the hidden audio dimension of these diverse cultural artefacts and bringing them together in musical harmony. It’s an approach echoed in his favourite nibble, a Korean candy bar (gangjeong) with a ‘super crispy amazing percussion crunch’.

His preferred recipe, by Korean-American YouTube sensation Maangchi, sees freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries added to the more traditional mix of peanuts and sesame seeds, a small nod to the cultural inheritance and transformation highlighted in Beer’s artwork.

This article originally featured in the April 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*264), available for free download 

INFORMATION
Beer is part of British Art Show 9, showing until 4 September. southbankcentre.co.uk

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Contemporary Art Artist's Palate
TF Chan

TF Chan is a former editor of Wallpaper* (2020-23), where he was responsible for the monthly print magazine, planning, commissioning, editing and writing long-lead content across all pillars. He also played a leading role in multi-channel editorial franchises, such as Wallpaper’s annual Design Awards, Guest Editor takeovers and Next Generation series. He aims to create world-class, visually-driven content while championing diversity, international representation and social impact. TF joined Wallpaper* as an intern in January 2013, and served as its commissioning editor from 2017-20, winning a 30 under 30 New Talent Award from the Professional Publishers’ Association. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he holds an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University.

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