Chris Gorman, an artist who works for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, loves Sant’Eustachio coffee from Gustiamo. He drinks it every day. While he waits for his coffee, he occasionally doodles with it to help the time go by. Our beloved intern, Charlie, sat down with Chris for a brief interview about his most recent piece, seen to the left.
Charlie: You’re meant to drink our coffee not paint with it. What feelings/moods/events inspired you to paint with Sant’Eustachio?
Chris: I’ve been drawing and painting for a long time, and different things inspire me. I am a coffee drinker (usually a cup or two a day), and generally during the week, I am drinking coffee on the go. On weekends, however, I have more time to enjoy a cup. And I think a cup of coffee in a nice mug or glass can be a very nice thing to look at (let alone drink!) A few years back, my cousin Michele Joseph was writing a book on coffee. And I did some preliminary sketches inspired by his book and the story he was telling. So since then, from time to time, I’ve sketched a cup of coffee as it’s cooling before I drink it. The most recent ones I’ve done have been just before I’ve enjoyed a cup of Sant’Eustachio, which has recently become my favorite brand. So in addition to using black ink and watercolor, I’ve splashed a bit of the coffee into the drawing.
Charlie: Danielle was telling me about how there is a sort of intersection of food and art, a blurry line. Does your piece have any of that?
Chris: Well, both can be incredibly beautiful. And I think that artists have been inspired by food for a long time, just as chefs may have looked to art to inform their decisions on food and its presentation.
Charlie: Are you in any way trying to bridge the gap between the two?
Chris: In a small way, yes. But for me, it’s more about being inspired by the way a cup of coffee looks and celebrating a little quiet moment before I embark on enjoying a tasty drink.
Charlie: So is it meant to have meaning or is it a fun little time-killer?
Chris: More the former. It’s a moment in time, I guess, with that particular coffee on that particular day.