Artist Mike Geno is commonly seen sporting a grey T-shirt printed with the phrases “Cheese Helps” in black block letters. The road on the shirt—bought on the late American cheese legend Anne Saxelby’s New York Metropolis store—may imply many issues, however for Geno, it’s easy: Cheese is his livelihood, simply not in the way in which you may anticipate. Geno is a cheese painter.
It began 14 years in the past, when Geno was in grad faculty. On a lark, he painted a porterhouse steak, working rapidly to seize the shape, shade, and texture. Then he ate his topic, as a result of he couldn’t afford to not. He was stunned at how a lot he liked the problem of portray perishable meals, which pushed him to “work quicker, and extra intuitively, and never be second guessing [himself], which was actually wholesome,” he says.
For his fortieth birthday, Geno obtained a $25 reward certificates to Philadelphia cheese haven Di Bruno Bros., the place he spent it on a wedge of Gorwydd Caerphilly, a Welsh cheese he had by no means heard of. “I believed, ‘God, that is too good to eat; I’ve to color this,’” he says. The piece impressed a collection of single-subject cheese work for a Could 2011 present and, because of subsequent media protection, Geno bought 30 of them in mere months.
“What I discovered about cheese is that its texture is de facto essential … the mouthfeel, the colour, the rind,” he says. “I began paying shut consideration to the small print—that’s why I name them portraits. The extra I discovered seductive about my topic, the extra I needed to be sure that was in my portray. I deal with what makes me hungry.”
Geno paints in oil on wooden panels, utilizing a studio wall as his easel. The cheese sits shut by on a shelf. Timing is crucial to catch the colour and texture of the cheese at its greatest, and most of his work are accomplished in six to eight hours. “Then I eat the cheese,” he says.
One in every of Geno’s early supporters was fellow Philadelphian and cheese educator Tenaya Darlington (aka Madame Fromage), who turned a mentor and good pal. “The primary time we met over cheese, she stated, ‘That is made by a pioneer cheesemaking lady from the West Coast who just isn’t going to make cheese anymore,’ and I’m like, ‘What?’” he says. “Like most People, I didn’t know that there’s a narrative with each cheese.”
Eager to be taught extra about what was quick turning into his favourite topic, in the summertime of 2012, Geno and his cheese work traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, on the invitation of the American Cheese Society for its annual convention. Within the self-described curd nerds—cheesemakers and mongers, suppliers, and writers—Geno discovered his individuals. So, when the next 12 months’s convention was held in Madison, he soaked in all he may about Wisconsin cheese.
“To satisfy makers like Chris Roelli was like assembly rock stars,” says Geno. Since that fateful fest, Geno has painted greater than 34 Wisconsin cheeses, together with 13 for a calendar commissioned by celebrated maker Emmi Roth. His portfolio additionally consists of Clove Gouda by Dutch-born Marieke Penterman, proprietor of Marieke Gouda; Evalon, a barely candy, nutty, gouda-style cheese from LaClare Creamery; and luscious, juniper-studded Blue Jay from Deer Creek Cheese. His portrait of Carr Valley’s Billy Blue was on his Christmas card one 12 months. Immigrants from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland introduced their cheesemaking traditions to Wisconsin greater than 180 years in the past. At the moment, the state’s 1,200 licensed cheesemakers (Wisconsin is the one state that requires makers to be licensed) end up over 600 varieties, which have received extra awards than cheeses from wherever else on this planet. Whereas some are variations of European classics, many others are Wisconsin originals.
All three are actually amongst Geno’s favorites for snacking, however when it got here to portray them as a tower, there was no scarcity of challenges. At 24” x 30”, the piece was a lot bigger than his normal portraits, and since his studio isn’t air conditioned, working in early July meant each he and the cheeses had been liable to soften. “It was a 12-hour portray day, however fortunately the stack didn’t fall over,” he says.
It’s a precedence for Geno to pay the “Cheese Helps” idea ahead. “I like the thought of my artwork supporting another artwork, so I at all times attempt to discover out from the maker what they want me to share,” he says. “It’s how I’ve discovered about over 500 cheeses and, unexpectedly, it turned a means of educating others.” He’s fast to say, nevertheless, that he doesn’t take into account himself a cheese educator. “My objective is to make the portray look so good to a viewer that they wish to exit and purchase that cheese.”
