More
M
Elrod aka Mexakitsch talks with us about classic food, fashion, and small dogs.
Photo: Kate Russell
For the winter festivities, we’ve released a guide to holiday parties from what to wear to who to bring. But who could possibly host such a party, who is fun and festive and maximalist, who can match our holiday freak? Obviously, Elrod aka Mexakitsch. In between letting the luminous meatloaf rest and the time capsule terrine set in the fridge, Elrod was able to sit down with us and let us in on a secret recipe or two.
Who are you and what do you do?
Elrod: My name is Elrod. I'm a mixed media artist and sculptor, hailing from Sacramento, California. I was once a painter, and now I am a maker of fantastic fake food art.
Who is your hair inspiration?
E: There's not one hair inspiration for me; there are many, but they all come from the same era. If I had to name names, it's Priscilla Presley, Raquel Welch, and Dolly Parton, clearly.
Where and who do you get your style from?
E: My style comes from being raised by my grandmother, who was obsessed with old Hollywood glamour. That really just trickled into my fabric of being. I've always been the type of person to care less what modern fashion is telling you to do, and I've always been one to just find pieces that fit me. More commonly, I would probably say it's because my grandma instilled a good sense of glamorous feminine entities.
When, if at all, did you categorize yourself as an artist?
E: Honestly, since I was a child. It just felt natural for me to embrace that term, one because my whole family recognized it. My mom has hilarious and embarrassing stories of me as a baby doing artistic things. I'll just say when I was still in a crib, I made my own human-made paint. As I got a little bit older, my favorite gifts to get, whether it was Christmas or my birthday, were those Rose Art kits that had the crayons and the markers and the pastels—like five or six different types of mediums in there. I think it was just obvious that I was meant to work with color.
In the realm of working with color, what's your favorite controversial '60s food recipe?
E: A Ring Around the Tuna always gets a visceral reaction from people because seafood and gelatin and citrus can be a weird mix. But there's this one recipe I cannot remember the name of: it's basically bananas with ham slices on it with a hollandaise and olives. I don't know the real name of it, but in my brain, I call it the Hambalone. Whenever I think of a horrific vintage recipe, my brain goes to Hambalone.
If you were your own delightful food sculpture, what three ingredients would be key, and what would the secret ingredient be?
E: I would be one part gelatin or resin, glitter for sure, and a big heavy hand of fantasy. I think the secret ingredient really has to be reckless abandonment and just stay clear of all social norms.
Walk me through the evolution of your mediums. I know that you did not start out doing food sculptures. Your old paintings of women and cars are so sick. So how did we get from A to B?
E: There's been one common element (technically two) throughout my professional art history. I've been doing this for about 20 years. The one thing that I'm absolutely addicted to is luster—things that shine and shimmer. Back when I was a painter, I was really in love with lowrider cars and their paint jobs. To me, that is the most delicious thing my eyes could feast on. I became obsessed with it and the women of the culture, so I started painting them. I used a lot of techniques from car painters in my work.
I made a sharp turn into sculpture when the whole world made a sharp turn—it happened during the lockdown. I had been painting my whole life. When things shifted and I no longer had to pay $500–$600 a month just to get to work in the city every day, I also had this extra art money. I started making these gelatin molds, which had always been in the back of my brain as something I wanted to do. I was always too timid to take that dive because it was expensive and risky, especially with resin. When there was literally nothing else to do, I figured now's the time to change it up. Ever since then, I have not looked back. When it comes to food being your inspiration, it's literally endless and limitless.
Do you remember distinctively what food item you saw and you were like, "That's it, you gotta do it"?
E: There's a recipe of the gelatin mold that is Spaghettios, and it has cocktail weenies in the middle of the hole. That was actually one of my first sculptures that I replicated. I was just looking at that, and I'm like, "This is art." The reaction from my following was overwhelmingly positive. Replicating the Spaghettios and cocktail weenies in an artistic fashion felt very normal to me.
You're based in Sacramento. Have you always been in Sacramento?
E: Nope, I've only been in Sacramento for about a year and a half now. My roots began in Southern California. I'm from Riverside, California. When I was about 22, I made the move to the Bay Area. My older brother, who is a chef and my best friend, told me I was a fool if I wanted to be an artist and stayed in Riverside; he said I needed to be up there. Since then, I've kind of trapped around the area every four to six years: San Francisco, then Berkeley and Oakland, Walnut Creek. It got to the point where I needed more space. Sacramento offers an easier living situation where your dollar goes a little further, and there's just a lot more space than there is in the Bay Area.
Tell me about your small dogs.
E: There's Romy, she's about 3 years old. I like to say she has her mother's looks and her father's attitude. She is beautiful, she is my life, and she is the heart of our home. We are a chihuahua family. I had a chihuahua named Prudence who was with me for 18 years. She was four pounds of sass and beauty, and she was my soulmate. After she departed, we ended up getting Romy, who was like our heartmender baby.
What did you think of partnering with Meow Wolf on this dinner party?
E: I have been wanting to work with Meow Wolf for almost a decade now. Back in 2015, my best friend and I opened our own immersive space/art gallery in Berkeley. We specialized in doing a floor-to-ceiling makeover of the whole space based on the art show's theme. It was a 10 by 14 room. People would constantly tell me, "You have to work with Meow Wolf, you would be perfect for them." I recognized that I could do really wonderful things with a company like that.
Watching how they've nurtured artists and given them the freedom to make these environments and installations—that to me is the highest form of art that you could do. It's the highest form of art that an audience member can experience, because everyone can go in a room and experience that and feel the art on a different level.
Having this be a fantasy dinner party with off-the-wall food items and me and big hair—it's literally my specialty. To not only work with Meow Wolf but work on a project like this is an artist’s dream come true.
Is there a food item that's not in this dinner party that you wish was?
E: There was supposed to be a punch bowl, and I said, "No punch bowl, bring in the fondue." Having a toxic fondue was actually my fantasy item that I wanted to have in the show.
Would you say that your art is ascribed to a period of time in any way?
E: When I describe my art, I always say I do sculptures based on retro-kitsch recipes or mid-century recipes. There's just something about mid-century food design and art that I am extremely drawn to. I have just always been enchanted by the '60s. To me, it was a beautiful era that I never got to experience, so me living this way and having my art reflect that feels like home to me.
How does the shrimp tower happen?
E: Remember how I talked about reckless abandonment? When I got approached to design the Mexakitsch meets Meow Wolf dinner party spread, Shrimp Infinity Tower was one of the menu items I gave them, and they picked it. I had to figure out how to make an infinite shrimp tower that doesn't look totally normal. I tried to make it look like if you were to pull a shrimp off, another one would bubble into its place. The idea is that it's constantly producing shrimps as the party goes on. This is my take on being retro, futuristic, and surreal at the same time.
Do you make any art outside of your sculptures, and if so, what?
E: This is a career now, and I really stay focused on keeping that momentum going. However, I've actually gotten to the point where I miss painting a lot. I'm getting the craving to do that, but just as a hobby. If I did painting now, it would all be personal work. It's hard to pull away from what I'm doing because there's such a high demand for it; people can't buy it fast enough, which is the best problem an artist could ever have. I can promise you – Elrod will return to the canvas.
Your studio is in your house, right?
E: Yes. I am a quintessential ADHD brain that has a really hard time functioning in the morning. Being a full-time artist is perfect because I don't have to rush to get to an office. I can literally wait until the body warms up and the brain starts working again, and then I just meander into my garage, which is my studio. I can get to work as early or as late as I want to.
Having the studio at home is key to success because things have to happen in phases, like resin having to set. I used to have a studio that was three miles from my house when I lived in Oakland, and it was such a challenge to get myself to go. Having my studio at home just makes it so much easier for the flow with my mood, my inspiration, my creativity, and my medium.
What is something coming up that you're excited about creating or being a part of?
E: I tend to take projects on a "it hits me as it comes in" basis. Right now, since we're getting close to the end of the year, it's all about doing work for the holidays because people love to gift my work. After that, I'm actually looking forward to not creating anything; I'm giving myself a break, because my brain's been cooking for a few years straight. I'm looking forward to resetting for whatever the next big inspiration is. I am doing fun things for fun people.
When should people expect your holiday drop?
E: I will say that all my holiday work will be probably available at the end of November or beginning of December.
What's the first thing you're going to do when we're done shooting?
E: Rip off these eyelashes. I feel like I have 10-pound weights on them. The wig is giving me the best Botox I've ever gotten, just pulling me back nice and tight. This is all coming off, and I'm getting steam cleaned immediately.
