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—might imply many issues, however for Geno, it’s easy: Cheese is his livelihood, simply not in the best way you may count on. Geno is a cheese painter.
It began 14 years in the past, when Geno was in grad college. On a lark, he painted a porterhouse steak, working shortly 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 cherished 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 acquired 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, due to subsequent media protection, Geno offered 30 of them in mere months.
“What I discovered about cheese is that its texture is absolutely necessary … the mouthfeel, the colour, the rind,” he says. “I began paying shut consideration to the main points—that’s why I name them portraits. The extra I discovered seductive about my topic, the extra I needed to ensure that was in my portray. I give attention to 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 important to catch the colour and texture of the cheese at its finest, and most of his work are accomplished in six to eight hours. “Then I eat the cheese,” he says.
Considered one 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 mentioned, ‘That is made by a pioneer cheesemaking lady from the West Coast who is just not 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 study extra about what was quick changing 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 folks. So, when the next yr’s convention was held in Madison, he soaked in all he might 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 contains 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 yr. Immigrants from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland introduced their cheesemaking traditions to Wisconsin greater than 180 years in the past. At this time, 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 gained extra awards than cheeses from anyplace else on the 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 traditional 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 really like the thought of my artwork supporting another artwork, so I all the time 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 method of educating others.” He’s fast to say, nonetheless, that he doesn’t contemplate himself a cheese educator. “My purpose is to make the portray look so good to a viewer that they wish to exit and purchase that cheese.”
