Mimi’s Hummus

CR#3

4/28

 

It has been both sad and inspiring watching the restaurants and stores in my neighborhood adapt to COVID. Many are closed, many seem to be struggling, but many are adapting as well. A few years ago, Mimi’s Hummus moved into a little spot down the road on Cortelyou. They soon expanded a little bit and added a craft beer and select produce and bread products. Eventually, they expanded the nonrestaurant aspect of their store more and added all sorts of goodies — olivata, tabbouleh, feta cheese in oil, and olive focaccia are among my house’s favorites. In response to COVID, they have closed their restaurant and moved their little store onto tables out front. Now they have coolers with perishables, baskets full of fruit and vegetables, and their various alcoholic products. They adapted to the situation and they flourished. 

This is the story that informed my painting of the day today. While I was walking over to Mimi’s to pick up onions and whatever else looked good, I thought about how so far I have been almost exclusively painting birds, but I haven’t addressed the people aspect of my essential question. I didn’t have my phone on me, or any sketchbook, so I looked at the stand and tried to internalize the image. When I got home, I rushed upstairs and quickly put down the painting. Looking forward, I am going to look for ways to include the people around me into my paintings. A few ideas I have off the top of my head are somehow painting the kids on my block — watching them respond to this has been very sad and sweet — doing portraits of my family, doing a still life of my pantry (pantries are like a library into the family in a sense). Some of my landscapes have people tucked away in them, but I think there are many ways to tell the stories of people right now through art, and I want to explore them a little bit in the coming week or two.