Art Good Enough to EAT

It’s already November. With Thanksgiving fast approaching some of you might already be thinking about FOOD! Not only is food a favorite thing for people to eat, it’s a favorite SUBJECT for artists to paint, sculpt and photograph. a feast for the eyes.

Andy WarholCampbell's Soup Cans1962

Pop Artists like Andy Warhol often filled their art with grocery items like soup cans, bananas and even Coca Cola.  

Food is essential to our survival. It is also one of the great pleasures in life. It's no surprise then that fruit, vegetables, meat, and drink have been common SUBJECTS in art.

Artist Lucy Sparrow uses felt to sew everyday food items we might see in a grocery store or bodega.  She makes intricately sewn items and creates supermarket installations filling an actual shop with her felt art.  Think of how many art pieces she would have to make.

Some FOOD art can be kinda CHEESY! Cocktail Party by Sandy Skoglund features cheese doodle covered sculptures.

Sandy Skoglund

Portraits by Giuseppe Arcimboldo are a FEAST for the eyes.  Portraits that look like a harvest.  (what does Harvest mean).  Raise your hand once you recognize a fruit or vegetable you can name.

Roy Lichtenstein - Still Life With Crystal Bowl

Bowls, platters and dishes overflowing with fruit have been a popular STILL-LIFE subject 

Photographer Gregg Segal traveled the world taking photos of what children in other countries eat.  Here are a few.  Do you eat any of the same foods as a child in Mumbai or Senegal?

How many of you like to cook with your family?  What do you like to cook? Can you tell what this family is preparing in this painting by Carmen Lomas Garza?  Have you ever eaten this food?

Carmen Lomas Garza Empanadas (turnovers), 1991

There seems to be plenty to eat in Carmen's painting but another artist, Vincent Van Gogh painted a picture of a family sharing a simple meal of only potatoes. Vincent used dark colors to show the mood of the scene.  How does this painting feel? This art piece showed a food shortage at this time and people didn't have enough to eat.

The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh

Some of the art could be served up for DINNER and other artists focussed on DESSERT

Claes Oldenburg, Floor Burger, 1962.

How about a burger and fries--super sized!  Claes Oldenburg creates these larger than life soft sculptures of food and other everyday items.

Claes Oldenburg, French Fries and Ketchup, 1963.

Artist Maira Kalman not only illustrates her meals she may also include text about what she's eating.  How much did this meal cost?

 Artist Wayne Thiebaud's (tee-bow) art is pretty SWEET!

Wayne Thiebaud. Pie Slice

Wayne's main SUBJECT is often food — mouth-watering artworks where pies, cakes, candy, and ice cream are the subject and painted or colored in pastel hues.

Some meals are special when people you love and care about gather around the table.

"Freedom from Want by Norman Rockwell serves up the idea of American food, holidays, and family, picturing rows of smiling faces bordering a table set with white linen and white plates and simple sides."

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci might be one of the most famous food gatherings in a work of art.  

The Dinner Quilt by Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold stitched fabric together to create this quilted gathering of people around the table.  Notice the pattern of plates and portraits.

Will you create a still-life with dishes and platters of food?

Will your art show a gathering of people you care about?

Do you have a special memory of a meal that you might create art about?