ART & FOOD SPECIAL

Fictitious Dishes - Extraordinary Designs and Delicious Dishes

The combination of art and food is certainly not a modern phenomenon. The still lifes with exuberant fruit platters of the old masters, especially from the Netherlands, already focused on food in their painting. However, the arranged still lifes do not only represent apples and pears. They often contain erotic or religious allusions and refer to the idea of transience, which underlies almost all of these works.

Especially contemporary designers often deal with this topic in their artistic creations. In an industry in which there are many creative competitors, various artists try to distinguish their works from the others by combining design and food. This leads to innovative and extraordinary works which do not only stimulate the aesthetic feeling of the viewer, but also their appetite at the same time. A good example of this is the recently published work 'Fictitious Dishes' by New York graphic designer and photographer Dinah Fried.

The book contains photographic interpretations of classic works in world literature. Almost every classic literary work can be found here, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Oliver Twist or Moby Dick. The main focus lies on the famous culinary moments that can be found in each novel. In her first book, for instance, the designer and author Dinah Fried presents her own interpretation of the madcap tea party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The unique photographs that have been created here are accompanied by interesting facts, funny anecdotes and of course quotations from the books that inspired its creation. The photographs are taken from a bird’s-eye view and they give the viewer the impression of glancing at a painting. Along with the carefully selected arrangement of food and props, Fried’s pictures seem like modern still lifes. This extraordinary debut work of the New York designer will certainly stimulate the appetite of its readers – appetite for delicious dishes and classic works of world literature.  

Within the next few days, you can read further contributions to our Art & Food-Special on art-scene.tv!