Lettuce as Art: From Giovanni Anselmo to Alison Knowles and Warhol

The article explores the use of lettuce and salad in contemporary art, citing three key works. In 1968, Giovanni Anselmo created "Senza titolo" (Untitled), a sculpture where a head of lettuce is pressed between granite slabs, gradually wilting and risking the fall of the upper slab—a commentary on entropy and the fragility of organic life against eternal stone. In 1962, Alison Knowles performed "Make a Salad" (Proposition #2) at the ICA London, a Fluxus event where she chopped and dressed a salad for the audience, emphasizing the banality of everyday life as art. The performance was repeated at Tate Gallery in 2008 with a larger scale and ritualistic elements. Andy Warhol's 1959 "Salade de alf Landon" from the artist's book "Wild Raspberries" (a collaboration with interior decorator Suzie Frankfurt) features a colorful but absurd salad with lobster tails, caviar, and asparagus, parodying French haute cuisine. The article also mentions Piero Gilardi's nature carpets and James Rosenquist's "Nasturtium Salad" (1959).