Inspired by Pop Art and Beyond: Tom Wesselmann, VMFA’s upscale dining restaurant, Amuse, has created several Wesselmann-inspired cocktails to add to their menu.
At Amuse, art is the muse for the staff as they craft monthly menus inspired by current exhibitions at the museum. “As the name suggests, Amuse regularly draws inspiration from the art at VMFA,” Amuse Restaurant Manager Michael Smith said. “The special exhibitions are what we primarily focus on, which are special for a reason.”
The Amuse staff drew inspiration for the current cocktail menu from Wesselmann’s work as well as Pop Art in general – advertising, popular culture, kitschy American still-life (pineapples, espresso, soda, liquor), and Wesselmann’s life-long fascination with the female nude.
An example of one of these creative cocktails is The Tan Line: a creamy desert martini that pays tribute to the female anatomy exemplified in much of Wesselmann’s work.
Make your own Tan Line:
Ingredients:
½ oz. Disaronno Amaretto
1 oz. Kraken Spiced Rum
1 tsp. Grand Marnier
½ oz. Creamer
Café Bustelo Espresso Foam
2 Marachino Cherries
Shake and pour the amaretto, rum, Marnier, and creamer into a martini glass, which should fill the glass about halfway. Use a dropper to inject several drops of cherry juice at the bottom of the glass. Drop a stemless cherry at the bottom. Top off the glass with espresso foam using a whipped cream whipper. Garnish with another stemless cherry, and enjoy!
Pop Art and Beyond: Tom Wesselmann
Famous for his Great American Nude series, American painter Tom Wesselmann (1931 – 2004) is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in the vanguard of American Pop Art. The exhibition has been critically acclaimed with The Washington Post writing, “The Wesselmann exhibition in Richmond is a stunner, giving visitors a much deeper sense of an artist who is remembered primarily for a series of Pop nudes he did in the 1960s.”
VMFA is the only East Coast venue for this landmark exhibition, which is on view through July 28.
A digital media kit and video demonstration of the cocktail creation are available.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art – and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European – VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide Partnership program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
