Note on Food

Note on Food

A note on waitstaff.

This note from LeRoy Neiman concerns, for the most part, restaurant waitstaff. In the document, the artist describes these workers as laborers that not only serve food but more importantly mediate (or blur) divisions between classes, and by extension "high" and "low" culture, through performatively serving as an “arm” of the restaurant. The artist continues on, describing the unideal working conditions faced by this workforce (something not afforded to the diners). Overall, the document then speaks to the artist's not solely aesthetic but also sociological interest in the restaurant as subject.

LeRoy Neiman

LeRoy Neiman Foundation

LeRoy Neiman Foundation

c. 1990-2011

LeRoy Neiman

Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.

Notes

Image/jpeg

English

Document

LN_Notes_2959

New York (N.Y.) New York

You can judge a restaurant by it's waiters,
you need not know how many stars or [sic] have eaten there before
A waiter in snob (a) restaurant can be on the
snooty side
In N.Y. (come to work) (come by) subway or bus but once
suited up transforms into and
equal too and representative of the restaurant
its guests
waiters are not created in high culture
jazz was not created in high culture
They work hard - no let up. year after year.
They don't think about retiring until their legs
go like a Dentist or barber
Sinatra never retired (from said shortly before) his death
"The Golden Years, My Ass"
Everybody that is somebody used to be
Nobody.
eating time at the zoo
Horses hind quarters
Nothing said here for repetition

Pencil and felt-tipped pen on paper.