A PICNIC WITHOUT GRILLED FOOD / Mongi Higgs

• Dimensions: 300 x 150 cm
• Medium: Monotype | Acrylic spray and oil sticks on canvas
• Ready to hang: yes
• Signature: Back, also signed certificate
• Year: 2025
• Shipping: in appropriate shipping packaging
• Delivery times: 8–14 business days (depending on size, customs procedures, etc.)
• incl. legal. VAT

This painting is a farce in two acts—large-scale, comical, mercilessly clear: In *Picnic Without Food for the Grill*, nothing is left out except the essentials. Everything is there: table, chairs, blanket, dishes, mustard, ketchup, maybe even the barbecue tongs with a thermometer—only the meat is missing. And it is precisely this gap that Mongi Higgs stages as the formal core of the work.

On the left, there is structure—abstract, crumbling, yet clearly conceived with technical precision: reddish-brown lines suggest a scene reminiscent of the frame of a disassembled grill or foldable camping furniture. It appears prepared, calculated, yet empty. A premonition of activity that will never take place.

Then, on the right: the figure. A woman in summer attire, her head turned backward, almost stoic. The colors appear as if they’ve been slathered on like thick barbecue grease: yellow, pink, blue—bold, flattering, and overly decorative. Her body is present, yet her face seems already detached from the situation—as if she has accepted that the day is now unfolding differently than planned.

The painting style reinforces the theme: The left half, executed in monotype, appears minimalistic, almost fleeting—like a memory. The right half, painted in a impasto acrylic technique, is lush, physical, and intimate. The two halves of the painting do not interact with one another. They stand side by side like action and resignation.

And so, “Picnic Without Barbecue Food ” becomes an ironic lesson in the world of Oberschweinbach in August:

You can have it all –

and yet that is exactly what is missing,

what you’ve been looking forward to.