Food artists have replaced brushes and paints with ingredients from their local supermarket and created works of art, which are as creative and awe inspiring as the real thing, but only &ndash edible.
Food artists I find most interesting are, Prudence Emma Staite and Jim Victor who have caused a stir in the art world with their amazing sculptures made out of chocolate.
Imagine that! Better not leave me alone with a sculpture like that &ndash it would probably be reduced to crumbs.
This would probably apply to most women for that matter…
Staite from the UK has recreated some of the world’s most famous artworks using chocolate Smarties which went on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London earlier this year. Some of her works include Andy Warhol’s famous Marilyn Monroe portrait, Banksy’s Clean Streets Maid and Bathers at Asnieres by Georges Seurat.
The Smartie Art Exhibition was launched to celebrate the return of Nestle’s blue Smarties.
Victor from Pennsylvania, in the US, is a sculptor with over 30-years experience as an artist and teacher. Among his many commissions are life size sculptures made of butter and chocolate commemorating famous personalities.
Victor has been invited to various events to make sculptures out of white and dark chocolate, where he colours the white chocolate with spices or glaze to add colour to it.
But is it art?
Spanish molecular gastronomy chef, Ferran Adria, owner of the famous El Bulli restaurant, broke new ground last year while simultaneously causing uproar amongst art critics. He was invited to exhibit his food at the five-yearly Documenta Art Show in Kassel, Germany &ndash one of the biggest events in the world of contemporary art.
An art critic, Jose de la Sota from El Palacio magazine, had this to say.
“Adria is not Picasso. Picasso did not know how to cook but he was better than Adria (at art). What is art now? Is it something or nothing?”
In my humble opinion, Feria has allowed people to see and taste food in a different light which in turn makes them appreciate it more.
Is cooking not essentially the combining of ingredients to form something that is completely different and unique?
American cook, Julia Child, hit the nail on the head when she said this, “Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music.”