About Clare Crespo
What’s a fantasist, you ask? It’s someone who has a flair for the sublime, an eye for the absurd, and the ability to conjure beauty and magic out of seemingly anything. It’s Clare Crespo, and there’s so much humor and humanity in her work that when you see it, you feel like you know her or you wish you did.
Clare makes things — for brands and because she is a prolific artist with a profound need to create — and those things can be anything from life-size dioramas to a fanciful altarpiece made up of porcelain snakes tied in nautical knots. She’s exceptional when it comes to dreaming up miniature worlds, like the meticulously appointed interiors she created for the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles or the tiny version of LA’s Lodge Gallery, which was a group show she dreamed up featuring minuscule pieces by Ed Ruscha, among other artists.
And while she’s fascinated by everything, Clare is especially taken with food. She wrote, created, and starred in a hyper-imaginative cooking show for kids called The Yummyfun Kooking Series, and Agnes Gund and David Byrne are among the collectors who purchased work from her The Crocheted Oyster Bar exhibition. She’s also the author of two delicious tomes: The Secret Life of Food and Hey There, Cupcake!
Clare lives in Los Angeles, but really she lives in her own world. And what a world it is.
SELECT CLIENTS
Irene Neuwirth Jewelry
Ace Hotels
Maison del la Luz Hotel
Entireworld
Shamshiri Design
Design Within Reach
Commune Design
American Express
Target
Breyer’s Ice Cream
Better Crocker
Duncan Hines
BOOKS & BROADCAST
The Secret Life of Food
Hey There, Cupcake!
Hurray Today Calendar
The Yummyfun Kooking Series, 3 full-length episodes, 13 mini-episodes
EXHIBITIONS
The Mini Show, The Lodge Gallery, LA
Laissez Les Bon Temps Crochet, Heath Ceramics Showroom, LA
Cupcake Nation, Alleged Gallery Annex, LA
Prospect 3 Triennial, New Orleans
Palate, Scion Installation Space, Culver City, LA
TV APPEARANCES & PRESS
CBS Sunday Morning
Good Morning America
Today Show
Food Network
Vanity Fair
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
Bon Appetit
Newsweek
Architectural Digest
Rolling Stone
Food & Wine
Elle Decor
Vogue
Wall Street Journal