Paul Cunningham tegnede, længe før han lavede mad.
Som ung i Essex var han altid i gang med blok og blyant. Da en bekendt skulle åbne en pub nord for London og manglede en kok, lød spørgsmålet: Har du ikke lyst til at bruge mad og smagsløg i stedet for blok og blyant? Han sagde ja. Blyanten blev lagt fra sig.
Men ikke helt. Som nyansat køkkenchef på Søllerød Kro i 1990'erne talte han ikke dansk nok til at forklare sine kokke, hvordan en tallerken skulle se ud. Så han tegnede den. Fisken her. Ærterne her. Kartoflerne og saucen der.
Sådan kom tegningen tilbage ind i køkkenet — først som arbejdsredskab, siden som en måde at tænke en ret på, før den fandtes. I 2025 viste udstillingshallen umbrella i Nørre Nebel disse arbejder i Paul Cunningham presents five drawn menus, hans første større soloudstilling i Danmark.
Årtier inde i karrieren lå han indlagt og alvorligt syg. Han begyndte at tegne ansigter i sine skitsebøger. Det var ikke meningen, at de skulle blive selvportrætter, men humøret smittede af. Et af dem er sort som kul — på nær en lille smule lys ved det ene øje.
Han gav serien titlen Johnny the Horse, lånt fra en sang af Madness. Han så bandet første gang som trettenårig i London, løftet op foran scenen af vagter, der var bange for mængden bagved. Johnny i sangen er en entertainer, der tager makeup på to gange om dagen og performer. Til sidst dør han for underholdningen.
De to spor løber side om side: maden, der tegnes før den laves, og ansigterne, der tegnes indefra.
MAXUS101 har vist Paul Cunninghams værker på Art Herning i 2024 og på Enter Art Fair i København i 2025 og 2026. Han er repræsenteret af MAXUS101.
Paul Cunningham
b. 1969, Essex, UK. Lives in Korsør, Denmark.
Paul Cunningham drew long before he cooked.
Growing up in Essex he was always at it with pencil and paper. When an acquaintance was opening a pub north of London and needed a cook, the question was put to him: how about using food and taste buds instead of pencil and paper? He said yes, and the pencil was set aside.
Not entirely. Newly appointed head chef at Søllerød Kro in the 1990s, his Danish wasn’t good enough to tell his cooks how a plate should look. So he drew it. The fish here. The peas here. The potatoes and the sauce there.
That is how drawing found its way back into the kitchen — first as a tool, later as a way of thinking a dish through before it existed. In 2025 the exhibition space umbrella in Nørre Nebel presented this body of work in Paul Cunningham presents five drawn menus, his first substantial solo exhibition in Denmark.
Decades into his career he was hospitalised and seriously ill. He began drawing faces in his sketchbooks. They weren’t meant to become self-portraits, but his mood came through. One is black as coal, except for a small amount of light at one eye.
He titled the series Johnny the Horse, after a Madness song. He first saw the band at thirteen in London, lifted up in front of the stage by security wary of the crowd behind him. The Johnny of the song is an entertainer who puts his makeup on twice a day and performs. In the end he dies for the entertainment.
The two strands run alongside each other: food drawn before it is cooked, and faces drawn from the inside.
MAXUS101 has presented Paul Cunningham’s work at Art Herning in 2024 and at Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen, in 2025 and 2026. He is represented by MAXUS101.
