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In 1564, a young painter named Joachim Beuckelaer found himself in the Flemish city of Antwerp. He embarked on a painting depicting a lively market scene, filled with an abundance of vibrant fruits, vegetables, and other edible delights. This celebration of excess and beauty was a response to the newfound prosperity of the Dutch market in the 16th century. These Dutch still-life paintings gave birth to a new genre of food art that continued to captivate throughout the centuries – from Cézanne’s luscious apples to Morandi’s carefully arranged fruit bowls and even Andy Warhol’s famed banana Polaroids. “It’s a subject that speaks to our humanity,” says Thomas Marks, former editor of Apollo art magazine, who is currently exploring the connection between art and food. “After all, we all have to eat.”
Inspired by Dutch still-life paintings, Massachusetts-based artist Nikki Maloof creates surreal and intricately patterned dinner and kitchen scenes that explore a modern anxiety – our growing disconnect from the animal world. Maloof was drawn to meat and fish as subjects because they represent something grotesque that we are confronted with and consume on a daily basis. “To me, that was fertile ground for something interesting,” she says. Her paintings feature an abundance of meat and entrails, juxtaposed with the beauty and allure of these subjects.
French-Vietnamese artist Julie Curtiss plays with our desires and cravings in her paintings. She depicts animal carcasses as if in a butcher’s shop, a steaming turkey on a table, and a sliced chocolate cake. However, upon closer inspection, these subjects are covered in sleek brown hair, creating a sense of repulsion once the viewer realizes what they are looking at. Curtiss is drawn to the tension between attraction and repulsion, and it is in this duality that she finds inspiration.
Californian painter Hilary Pecis creates lively and messy tablescapes that depict the aftermath of a late-night gathering – empty bottles, scattered food, and everyday branded products that fill our homes. Pecis aims to capture the joy and memories associated with a good meal or a happy evening. Her paintings, reminiscent of Tom Wesselmann’s iconic still-life pieces from the 1960s, have gained attention from collectors worldwide. Pecis sees her compositions as a form of self-portrait and documentary, capturing the events that unfold in our daily lives. Painting leftover food adds significance to seemingly insignificant moments, creating a sense of delight in the ordinary.
On the other hand, Derbyshire-based artist Evie O’Connor explores the tension and significance placed on food, particularly in regards to status and social media. O’Connor’s paintings are influenced by her observations of people dining at prestigious restaurants like Nobu in Malibu, where the act of dining becomes a spectacle and a display of wealth and status. She sources images from Instagram and review sites to create her pieces, shedding light on the ways in which our food choices can be used to elevate or humble us, while also revealing our education, aspirations, and financial position.
In contrast, O’Connor’s series of paintings depicting perfectly organized shelves of fruits and vegetables found in refrigerators shed light on the domestic side of the story. These paintings explore the concept of “fridgescaping” where fresh produce is meticulously arranged like a work of art. O’Connor finds the idea of someone’s job being to arrange produce in such a manner as obscene. Her work questions the notion of excess and waste, as a surplus of food is no longer necessarily a display of abundance and comfort.
Despite the various themes explored by these artists, one thing remains clear – the aesthetic pleasure of food continues to be an enticing subject for artists throughout history. “Why has there been such a long history of people wanting to paint food?” ponders Maloof. “Because it’s beautiful. It’s a perfect candidate for paint because it appeals to our senses.”
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