Monday 28 May 2012

Jed Smith, thus far.


A 'Dinner with Jed Smith' is a new idea of ours to use our gallery space as a 'pop-up restaurant' on the 8th and 9th of June!

Spaces are limited and the first night is over half-booked, please book and pay a deposit soon.

Jed is offering a 'prix fixe' 3 course menu which will be prepared and served in the gallery.
It will cost £30 per head, feel free to bring your own alcohol for after your meal. There will be appropriate drinks served with the meal too.

Please book via an RSVP to brook@factoryroadgallery.net

If you have any questions, please ask!

Below are the reasons that we asked Jed to create a menu for the gallery:

We first met Jed in a record store in 2006 (he was very enthusiastic about new music and still is). When Sarah had a show on in London later that year and we needed some food doing for the opening reception. A friend pulled a team together, who unbeknown to us included that record store boy...

Jed's enthusiasm for food and music had such a positive impact on us that we knew he'd be our man for food at the next show, New York 2007. Full of enthusiasm, maturity, energy and skill, he hid any nerves with aplomb, creating beautiful platters of colour and joy from local sources on an 'inventive' budget. The Manhattanites devoured them.

Jed later returned to Leicester with grand ambitions, writing directly to Pierre Gagnaire (holder of 3 Michelin stars in Paris and many others around the world) with a little Inkymole magic on the envelope. He was put forward for a job at Sketch in London and remained there, working his way up through the ranks before leaving in 2010.

He hailed a unicorn back to New York to focus on eating his way through the city, whilst also searching for the perfect place to work. A chance meeting in a speakeasy with David Chang gave Jed the opportunity to ask him for a job. There and then, he was offered a chance to flex his skills. Within days, those skills had got him the job at Momofuku.

In 2012 Jed got back on his curly-horn'd steed to head north to Montreal to work with a friend at the Sugar Shack for an intense 3 months, under the watchful eye of Martin Picard (Au Pied de Cochon). He participated in the production of the area's renowned and precious maple syrup and cooked an obscene amount of animals, vegetables, grains and minerals.

Now he's back in the UK, walking his dog (Barker - star of the flyerl) amongst borage flowers and along the prom at Felixstowe, watering geraniums, feeding chickens and creating heron traps with his grandad, while he concocts his menu for Factoryroad Gallery's pop-up restaurant.

After this event and a family wedding he returns to Canada, but Toronto this time for the opening of David Chang's new restaurant. We hope he'll return, but it's a big world and Jed wants not just a big bite, but a little taste of just about as many of its delights as he can possibly manage.

As consultant and go-to for anything edible at all our weird and wonderful events for the past five years, we continue to engage with Jed's skills and infectious enthusiasm, and hope that by doing so has played a part in his continuing evolution as a culinary artist. We greatly anticipate his next move.

Sunday 6 May 2012

DJ Food and Henry Flint


Factoryroad Gallery are ridiculously excited to announce our new show!

Flint and Food: An exhibition of artwork from DJ Food’s new album ‘The Search Engine’, and Henry Flint’s book ‘Broadcast’, originally shown at Pure Evil, London, now brought to the Midlands by
Factoryroad Gallery.

Original comic art, drawings, limited edition prints, moving image, photography, vinyl and...food!

As usual there'll be locally-brewed ale by Church End Brewery, themed food by Jed Smith and things to buy.

DJ Food (aka Strictly Kev aka Kevin Foakes) is not only a friend but a musical favourite whom we've known and admired since 1996. Something of a role model for Factoryroad, his role in the evolution of one of the most important independent record labels, Ninja Tune, and the musical genres it nurtured cannot be underestimated. His career has evolved steadily along a rich and productive path, and is interwoven with many other significant artists and genres. He is also recognised for his contribution to the evolution of digital scratch technology and expanding the possibilities of turntablism, as well as being responsible for the majority of Ninja Tune's artwork and visual direction.

Henry Flint is a long established comic artist who came to prominence on 2000AD, drawing Judge Dredd. Kev has been a fan and collector of his artwork for years and finally achieved his ambition to work with him when he collaborated on his most recent album as DJ Food, 'The Search Engine', released in January this year. You'll see Judge Dredd making an honorary appearance below (in pictures from the original show at Pure Evil) and his comic book work has the writhing, muscly appearance you'd associate with big superheroes wielding massive weapons and snarling metal-headed foes. Tiny details, massive explosions, lip-curling grimaces and alien skins are all rendered in juicy blank ink, spontaneous yet minutely rendered.

Kev will be joining us for an ale on the night.

Opening night attendance is strictly via an RSVP to: gallery@factoryroad.net
Please let us know you're coming!

You can read about Henry Flint here:
http://henryflint.wordpress.com/

and DJ Food here:
http://www.djfood.org

Opening night Friday 1st June 2012
Show open until Friday 15th June (viewing welcome at any time, but by appointment - please email us to check we will be able to show you around!)

Press enquiries: brook@factoryroadgallery.net
PDF flyer downloadable here: http://inkymole.com/download/Flint&Food_Factoryroad.pdf