Upstate Diary: The Art of Red Sauce

Wearing a big red apron, Giorgio Spanu is stirring an enormous pot of tomato sauce, a part of an industrial-scale task he performs annually with the help of several assistants. They are surrounded by crates and baskets of tomatoes and other vegetables, all grown on Spanu's nearby farm, in the process of preparing a traditional Italian sauce that will be served in the café at Magazzino, the museum of contemporary Italian art the Spanu co-founded with his wife, Nancy Olnick, in Cold Spring, New York. Why does a noted art-world leader toil on the farm and in a kitchen, in additional to his office-bound responsibilities?