Sorbetto Esotico (2003)

“Sorbetto Esotico” is an alchemic work as the “foods” used in the preparation of the dessert become “elements” in the paintings and the “natural” colours of the fruit become “artificial” colours in the pictorial work. Again, it is a layering of processes that lead to the final result. To begin with, Monika photographically finds the tools of execution and all the ingredients of the recipe. She then proceeds to make the sorbet. Finally, she stores the fruit scraps and some ingredients in plastic trays, which she displays as a tangible sign of the process that has taken place. The preparation of the dessert and the creation of the work of art intersect. In the painted plates, the recipe is narrated in a free, almost childlike language, which is often accompanied by drawings. The colour expands and covers those drawings, removing rigidity from the whole. With calibrated balance, Monika alternates painted plates to those where she preserves the material marred by time.
As in all Monika Wolf’s works, the rigorous procedure and the essentially geometric compositional grid are enlivened by the “feelings” within the work that follow the path of the unconscious and the mixing of languages.
From the alchemic mixture of food comes the food that nourishes the body through the sense of taste. From the symbolic mixture of writing, painting and natural elements comes an image that nourishes the spirit through vision. The artist, like a priest, offers this gift and shares her experience with the public, in a rite of esoteric communication. Valeria Vaccari, 2003