Artist’s Palate: Roger Hiorns’ insalata Caprese

Roger Hiorns’ art, relying as it sometimes does on naturally occurring chemical reactions and the crystallising process of copper sulphate, is not dissimilar to his recipe. Hiorns lets the material do what it needs to do. It creeps and grows and makes its own aesthetic decisions, no more so than when he created a fantastic blue crystal landscape in a London flat. The installation, Seizure, was a smash. Beyond the small matter of inserting two containers’ worth of copper sulphate into the flat, Seizure did much of the heavy lifting itself. As does insalata Caprese. This colourful mozzarella, basil and tomato salad lets the ingredients do the work.

Ingredients
Large ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
Fresh mozzarella balls, cut into quarters
Fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Arrange the tomato, mozzarella and basil leaves evenly on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.