For our savory-themed issue, we had the privilege of featuring “Offshoot” by Los Angeles–based artist Mindy Kober as our cover. We sat down with her to learn more about her work, her process, and the layered memories that inform her art.
Q: When you heard the theme “savory,” what was the first image, flavor, or sensation that came to mind?
A: The word savory brings to mind childhood meals that were eaten during the wintertime. There were certain meals my mom cooked only when the weather turned cold: stews, soups and chili. My favorite savory cold day meal was San Antonio stew. It combined beef stew meat, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, and cut up ears of corn. My love of cumin comes from eating this dish as a child.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your piece “Offshoot”? Do you see the offshoot as a form of rebellion, continuation, survival, or something else entirely?
A: The concept of “Offshoot” stems from childhood memories of mealtimes and the Pyrex dishes I ate from. Pyrex dishes are known for their beautiful mid-century designs of floral and botanical prints, and I recreated those patterns in the layers of the soil of the painting. Dinnertime at my house growing up was healthy nutritionally, but fraught with arguments, poor communication, and conflict. I remember staring at the bright patterns on the dishes sitting in front of me, tracing their optimistic shapes with my eyes during these tense moments as a way of disassociating into another time and place. To me, the reinvented casserole dish represents the family unit as a modern-day aesthetic, where nostalgia and beauty are used to gloss over family dysfunctions at the dinner table and beyond. The strata in the painting illustrate layers of trauma pushed further and further down. The poppy growing from compacted layers of Pyrex soil shows the hope that comes from healing through confronting and examining these memories.
Q: Your art style feels very distinctive. Are there particular artistic or cultural influences that informed this piece?
A: I describe my work as having a “story book” quality, and I tend to use imagery in my paintings that already exist in the world. I use the story book aesthetic to drive the narrative of the images, evoke emotions, and to introduce the existing images to a world reimagined just for them. In the oral history of folk tales community values and moral lessons are prioritized. I question and rebuild these themes, taking a critical and honest lens into account of their origins, and what has been altered along the way.
“I want the viewer to feel an intimate familiarity that one half remembers but can’t quite place.”
Q: What mediums did you use to create “Offshoot,” and how did those materials shape the final result?
A: The medium I paint with is gouache on paper. Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint traditionally used by animators. I believe it is the best medium to achieve the folk tale aesthetic I want to convey. I paint on paper rather than canvas to evoke the page of a book.
Q: How long did the process of creating this piece take—from initial idea to finished work?
A: I worked on the idea of using Pyrex dish images in my paintings for several months as I was researching the origins of these familiar designs. My research led me to discover that the origins came from Slavic pagan imagery. Part of my cultural roots are Slavic as well, so it’s as if my own ancestral lineage was calling me to remember it. Apart from the research, the construction of my paintings, including “Offshoot” take a relatively long time to finish despite their small sizes. “Offshoot” is 12”x16”, and took about two weeks to paint once the theme was decided. Each color I use is built up of several layers of paint, giving it a vibrant and pictorial quality. I also use very small brushes to achieve the sharp edges. I use watercolor brushes from size 0, 5/0, 12/0, and I just got a 20/0 brush to achieve small tips and corners of small lines.
Q: Is there a particular feeling, memory, or reflection you hope viewers experience when they encounter this piece?
A: I want the viewer to feel an intimate familiarity that one half remembers but can’t quite place. I use a lot of pop culture references in my work from my childhood and past, and examine the visual culture that society creates for us as a simulated reality. The connections we make based on informational patterns and self-constructed story lines are fascinating to me, as well as how we transform visual knowledge into meaningful structures to navigate through complex situations.
Q: What made you decide to submit to Mouthful of Salt?
A: I love that Mouthful of Salt welcomes the work of neurodiverse and marginalized writers and artists like me. I feel like my art fits into the themes explored by your journal, which gives us a voice and visibility to share our unique experience with the world.
Q: Where can readers find more of your work or follow your artistic practice?
A: My artist website is www.mindykober.com and you can find me on Instagram at @kobermindy.