09 January 16

Fried Eggs and Poached Eggs
Christopher Chiappa at the Kate Werble Gallery and Lunch at Jack’s Wife Freda   

A gallery tour and lunch is a perfect match on a Friday afternoon.

I had seen someone post a picture from this show on Instagram and it looked so cool that I had to go explore it myself. 7,000 fried eggs made by Christopher Chiappa featured at a nice little gallery in Soho owned by Kate Werble.

The show is called “livestrong”. Mr. Chiappa has something with eggs.

"If you just have the egg, it’s this one thing — optimistic, positive, forward-moving,” Mr. Chiappa said. “It’s like a feeling of future.” “The fried egg is the opposite,” he continued. “It’s the idea that this sort of perfect object — this object of all potential — has been sacrificed.”

Ms. Werble described the show as an “infestation": cheerful on the surface, with “something spreading underneath.” “It’s dead,” she added. “It’s a fried egg. If you want to get into it, it’s the end of life.” Eggs are a source of so many life-giving nutrients — perhaps one of the greatest superfoods we know. Just think of the way they are “lunchpacked” for the lives that develop within them until the chicks break out as independent birds.

It took Christopher Chiappa one year to make all the eggs. It’s a complicated 14-stage process to get them look so incredibly real. Some are equipped to hang while others lie flat, and a few slide down or around corners. There is also variation in the yellow tones of the yolk. I really loved this show — art can be so many things and things you don’t expect. The eggs are on sale in the gallery if you are in a market for a fried egg on your wall.

I have passed Jacks Wife Freda on Lafayette street many times and it’s always packed with people — a popular place is always a good sign, though what I really fell for was the illustration on the menu. I was meeting girls for lunch and we decided to meet on Carmine street as it would probably be less crowded and easier to get a table and also it was closer to the gallery. It is a sweet little place serving good, simple dishes in a nice atmosphere. 

Kate Werble Gallery, 83 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013
katewerblegallery.com

Jack’s Wife Freda, 50 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014
jackswifefreda.com