Wednesday 23 May 2012

Artists using food to make art

There are many artists who have explored food as an art medium, using the sensory qualities of food objects in the same way that they may use more conventional art materials.



In this sculpture by Anthony Gormley, 'Bread Bed,' 1981, the artist has used the texture of white bread, which is soft and easily compressed, to create an indentation of two figures.





Here is a very early example of an artist taking an interest in the sculptural qualities of food, 'Winter,' by Guiseppe Acrimboldo, painted in 1573. Acrimboldo made many portraits of this kind, arranging fruit and veg so that it formed human faces, which he then painted.




This is a sculpture called 'Liquorice Shoes,' by Andy Yoder, 2007. Like Anthony Gormley's bread bed and Acrimboldo's fruit faces the artist is using food to literally make something else. In this example it is harder to visually see that it is food, so the title is very important in helping us to identify what the artist has done. I wonder if you saw the work the work in the flesh, would it smell sweet?


In this work, 'The Chromatic Diet,' by Sophie Calle, 1997, the artist exploits the visual qualities of food, drawing out the way we react to colour. To make the work Calle designed a monochrome meal for each day of the week. Thursday was green.


Think about how restricting the colour within a meal changes it from something ordinary, to something that is visually striking. Perhaps it is possible to create a radical, visally stunning meal by restricting one of the other qualities of the food, e.g. the texture, or shape- Breakfast of circles, lunch of squares and dinner of triangles?


Here is another example where colour is really significant. These are 'Political Jellies', made by jelly specialists Bompas and Parr for the last election of government. They are coloured to match the colours of the three major political parties, and have each parties' symbol drawn into their top. I think the shape of these is no accident either- the castle-type mould suggests power and seriousness.
Have a look at their website, www.jellymongers.co.uk, they have really tested the sculptural possibilities of jelly.

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