Cuisine Art

There is an art to feeding a crowd—something Mina Stone knows full well. For years, the Brooklyn-based personal chef has worked the stove at the dinners Gavin Brown throws at his West Village gallery, where artists like Rob Pruitt and Alex Katz have been known to line up for seconds of her short ribs with cinnamon and wine, and braised artichokes with lemon and dill. “It’s food that I love—simple, fresh, and often inspired by Greece,” says Stone, who began her career as a fashion designer and catered events for friends on the side. She gave up her day job when the artist Urs Fischer, for whom Stone makes a staff lunch for up to 20 people three days a week at his studio in Red Hook, suggested they do a book together under his publishing imprint, Kiito-San. Cooking for Artists, which launches at the LA Art Book Fair (the weekend of January 30, 2015), includes 100 recipes, along with stories of how each came about. “Making food for artists gives me a freedom I wouldn’t have otherwise,” Stone says. “They get that this is my thing.”