Juan Amador at the Nitsch Foundation

VIENNA Three-star chef Juan Amador is opening his first major solo art exhibition in his adopted home of Vienna with "Convergence". Under his artist name "Rodama", the renowned Nitsch Foundation will be showing the abstract works of the Stuttgart-born chef from 24 March.

He is one of the most highly decorated top chefs in the world. His restaurant "Amador" in Vienna was the first in Austria to be awarded three Michelin stars in 2019. But what few people know: Juan Amador has been leading a creative double life for five years.

From haute cuisine to art

Juan Amador is a perfectionist - in the kitchen as well as in art. What began as a personal experiment in 2020 during the pandemic quickly became a serious passion for Amador. "In the beginning, it was simply a hobby to fill all that time with something creative," recalls Amador of the first lockdown. Under the anagram "Rodama", he immersed himself deeper and deeper into the material. The basement room at home, which was initially used for painting, quickly became too small. "Suddenly our house was full of canvases. I painted in a frenzy and started experimenting with different colours, techniques and materials." In 2022, he found a suitable studio near his restaurant.

The 56-year-old paints in his studio almost exclusively at night. "I've always been a night person. After our evening service in the restaurant, I often paint until the early hours of the morning," reveals Amador. On 300 square metres, spread over three rooms, there are hundreds of paint tubes, brushes, palettes and paint spatulas on ceiling-high shelves, while the walls are lined with dozens of wooden stretchers and canvases with half-finished works, which Amador often works on in parallel.

Inspired by music, he creates abstract, large-format works of art that are characterised by intense colour, rhythm and strong contrasts. His quality standards for the materials he uses are similar to those for the ingredients in his three-star restaurant .

Cooking is a craft, art is freedom

"In the kitchen, I follow a precise choreography - every move has to be right, the interaction with my team is essential for every single plate. In art, it's different: I'm free, I surrender to the moment, on the canvas I can express myself impulsively and expressively. Cooking is a craft, art is freedom for me."

Like Juan Amador's dishes, Rodama's works are all about the tension between energy and precision. Large-scale plays of colour full of dynamism and structure meet meticulously crafted details. Blurring plays a central role: "I deliberately don't paint clear, representational motifs. It's about leaving room for interpretation." He uses a wide variety of materials and techniques to achieve this: from acrylic and oil to mixed media on paper and canvas.

"Convergence" - an exhibition about intensity and reduction

With "Convergence", the renowned Nitsch Foundation is presenting a selection of Amador's current works. The solo exhibition includes large-format canvases and finely nuanced works on paper. The 20 or so works reflect themes such as movement, emotion and the search for essence - elements that also always play a central role in Amador's cuisine. "Reduction is my leitmotif. The fewer components on the plate, the more work there is behind it. This also applies to my painting. I often limit myself to three basic colours and strive for the essential - for maximum intensity with minimal but perfect means. Every painting should trigger something, just like a good dish," explains the three-star chef.

Rita Nitsch, Director of the Nitsch Foundation, sees Amador as an artist whose works challenge the boundaries between culinary art and painting: "Rodama's works are full of energy and structure. They show an impressive combination of intuition and control, of spontaneity and technique - just like his cuisine," reveals the exhibition curator. "It is a great pleasure for us to give Juan Amador a stage as an artist with this solo show at the Nitsch Foundation."

The exhibition opening will take place on 24 March 2025 at 18:30 at the Nitsch Foundation Vienna. In the presence of Juan Amador, visitors can gain a deep insight into his artistic work.