Jelly Roll

“…no one knows how American food came to be the way it is from the point of view of function, design and production processes. I think the big difference in America as compared to Europe is that the food here is the same wherever you go, even down to the napkins and the salt and pepper shakers on the restaurant tables. The hot dogs, the hamburgers and the hotcakes all look the same. The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of big globs of material such as chocolate or cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor or plenitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc., than is needed.” – Wayne Thiebaud

Executed in 1970, Jelly Roll is a jewel-like example of Wayne Thiebaud’s delectable depictions of edible treats. Ranging from cakes and pies to other sweet confections, it was this series that first propelled him to critical acclaim in the early 1960s. Encompassing other uniquely American subjects such as pinball machines and the streets of sunny California, Thiebaud’s practice is defined by his ability to capture the true essence of his subjects. In his hands, his chosen media take on the very qualities of the substances he depicts: from the light, airy texture of the sponge to the gooeyness of the jam. Created from memory, these glowing visions speak to a nostalgic sense of American identity. His cakes, in particular, act as delightful reminders of the simple, everyday rituals and joys that shape our lives.

In Jelly Roll, an ordinary sponge cake becomes an icon. Alone in the centre of the paperboard, it is bathed in tantalizing golden light. Its luscious layer of jam is rolled evenly into a spiral, as if ready to be picked up and bitten into. The sumptuous cake is rendered palpably in soft shades of cream and brown, scrawled vividly in vertical and diagonal strokes. When viewed up-close, the “jelly” glistens a sensual mix of blue, orange, and red tones. Thiebaud lavishes great chromatic detail upon the cake’s shadow, intensifying its singular presence. Like the works of Chardin, Thiebaud’s humble still-lifes reveal an extraordinary sensitivity to light, surface and the intimacies of form. Creamy, fluffy and delicate, the modest cake is transformed into a masterful exploration of colour and form, brilliantly infused with a sense of drama and purpose.

Although Thiebaud is best known for his bright depictions of pastries and cakes, they represent only a slice of his practice, which also includes landscapes and figure paintings. Over the years the artist has repeatedly tackled the same motifs, expounding the formal possibilities of subjects drawn from everyday American life. His cakes, cookies and slices of pie, for example, initially grew out of exercises in three-dimensional geometry, and his desire to explore basic compositional devices. Unlike artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, whose careers burgeoned simultaneously in New York, Thiebaud creates a unique blend of realism and abstraction, in which personal remembrance and latent symbolism intertwine. Where Warhol’s soup cans were cool and ironic, Thiebaud’s cakes and pies were warm and gently comic, inviting viewers to revel in childhood memories and to luxuriate in life’s simple pleasures.