Edible Art: Sarah Anne Ward

I can’t get enough of the whole fine art/food trend. Send me a photo of an art-inspired dessert and I am all over it! So, it should come as no surprise that I am smitten with these images created by New York-based photographer Sarah Anne Ward. Inspired by famous modernist works of art, Sarah, along with food stylists Heather Meldrom and Michelle Gatton, created this seven-piece series, which includes a Koons Twinkies and a Rothko ice-cream cake, not to mention the Jackson Pollock Rice Krispie Treats (my personal favorite). So fun! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! For more info on Sarah, check out her website, right here. ~Erin

Pollock Rice Krispie Treats

Damien Hirst Dot Candy Skull

Richard Serra's Chocolate Curls

Rothko Ice Cream Cake

Cubist Movement Picasso/Braque Pinwheel Cookies

Mondrian Jello Jiggler Mold

Seurat Pointillism Sprinkle Sheet Cake 

Gina Beavers (Paintings)

The biggest, most obvious difference between paintings of food and the real, edible version that inspires them, is that paintings are flat, one-dimensional creations, while food, in its glorious reality, is a three-dimensional object, whose sole purpose is to be touched, picked up, and consumed. So, when I came across these wonderful paintings by artist Gina Beavers, I was instantly struck by their elevated structure. There is definitely a sculptural aspect to the work, which gives the food more of a “living” feeling that you wouldn’t necessarily get in a more traditional painting. Looking at the art, you are filled with an urge to reach out and grab a piece of the acrylic food on the canvas. There is also an unnerving sense that, at any moment, Gina’s food specimens might come alive and grab you instead! Or, perhaps, I've just been watching too many episodes of the Walking Dead! If you'd like to check out more of Gina's work, you can do so right here.  [Photos courtesy of  Clifton Benevento]

Pamela Michelle Johnson (Paintings)

Sometimes I’m able to look at a piece of art and I’ll instantly know what I like about it and why it makes me feel happy or sad or both. When I first saw Pamela Michelle Johnson’s food paintings, I was immediately hit with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. The pieces are somewhat upsetting to look at, and, at first, it was hard for me to really pinpoint why pictures of Oreos and Pop Tarts were upsetting me. There is real melancholy aspect to her work, a loneliness. These are painting of sweets, without any of the sweetness. Perhaps Pamela can explain it best.

From Pamela: Whether it is gluttonous quantities of larger than life junk food or the solitary empty wrapper, abandoned soon after devouring was complete, the images are charged with social relevance. The work flaunts our culture back at us. It questions embracing a culture of complete and instant gratification while ignoring the consequences of our indulgences. The work questions many of our cultural ideals and social norms. These are the pictures of our insatiable appetites; they are the pictures of the consequences. You can see more of Pamela's work below. You can also check out additional paintings via her website, right here. ~Erin

Emily Eveleth

I’ve always loved donuts. I know that they’re bad for you, but they’re so sugary and delicious that I find them pretty hard to resist. It doesn’t matter the kind, chocolate, fruit filled, crème filled, sprinkles, if I see I donut, I want to eat it. (Well, except for those silly glazed donuts – yawn!) I thought I understood donuts. I thought I knew them well. Then, I saw Emily Eveleth’s paintings and the donuts that I thought I’d known since childhood suddenly grew up! I had never thought of a donut as a sexual object before, but there is something so sensual and visceral about her paintings. The donuts are almost Rubenesque, more like portraits of nude women than ordinary donuts. In person, the painting are quite large in scale, which only intensifies the feeling that you’re looking at something greater than your normal, average breakfast treat. Bridging the chasm between portrait and landscape, Emily’s paintings make you look at donuts in a whole new light and I love that! You can check out more of Emily’s work via her website. ~Erin

The Pancake Button Book

Who doesn’t love a cute illustrated recipe? It’s fun to look at, it’s arty, you can fold it up and put it inside a button when you’re done. Wait? What? Fold it up and put it inside a button? Yep, that’s right. This tiny illustrated recipe by artist Vicki Smith is bookmarked on either side by two 1 ¼ inch buttons. Once it is unfolded it reveals an oatmeal pancake recipe, told in fourteen watercolor illustrations. Fold it back up, take it on a trip, keep it in your pocket, give it as a gift. It’s miniature and therefore delightful. Click here for more info and to purchase online.

Greely Myatt

I love wood. I love dessert. Put the two together and, wowzers, I’m in design heaven! That said, it should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of these whimsical wooden desserts by artist Greely Myatt.  A faculty member at the University of Memphis, Myatt’s work is at once playful and realistic, rustic yet campy. My favorite pieces are definitely the cake sculptures. The craftsmanship, with these pieces in particular, is amazing and I’m seriously in awe of how lifelike they look, considering that they’re made almost entirely out of wood (with a little acrylic frosting). In addition, the environmentally concerned part of me is happy to report that Greely often works with reclaimed materials (wood, metal, etc) when creating his art, which is always a good thing. If you like what you see here, be sure to check out more of his pieces. Dessert art is only a small part of his work. ~Erin

Photos courtesy of PDX, The Running Horse, and Koelsch Gallery

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, I just started a Dessert Girl Pinterest page. I've been on Pinterest for a while now, but decided to start a page for DG as well. I hope to see you there! :-)

Wooden Popsicles

I’m not a fan of useless objects. Usually, whenever I see a useless object, all I can envision is it sitting in a huge landfill, along with all the rest of the useless objects in the world, taking up space, polluting the planet. Useless objects make me sad, mad, and all the other bad words, but just now, looking at these wooden popsicles, I  actually felt happy!

Created by Italian designer Mauro Savoldi (aka Johnny Hermann), each popsicle is handmade, completely unique, and numbered (in a series of 150). The colors and the designs are really lovely and I can’t seem to stop looking at them! Who knew that  a wooden popsicle could be so gorgeous? If only it could be used for something. Perhaps you could use it as a fly swatter? Anyhoo, Mauro himself admits that they’re useless, which, frankly, makes me love them even more. For additional information on Johnny Herman designs, click here. Contact Mauro for purchasing info.

Jelly Babies

Photo by Brian Valentine

As far as sweets/desserts are concerned, I’m not a fan of jellied things. I never liked Jell-o, not even as a kid. Nor did I like jellied candy, like worms or bears. I don’t even really like jelly beans, although I do quite enjoy Jelly Bellies. Don’t ask me to explain the difference. Needless to say, I don’t really enjoy eating gelatin-spiked foods, but I do seem to be fascinated by them. Jelly keeps popping up on this site over and over and over again. As an object of interest, I can’t seem to resist a wobbly thing! I think some of it comes from the fact that jellied foods often take on the oddest and most bizarre shapes, like these Jelly Babies, for instance. There is something so wrong about them, yet I can’t look away! For starters, who wants to eat a tiny person? Not to mention the fact that there’s something almost alien-like and scary about their design. I can almost imagine them coming to life and forming a small army of jelly people, which will then take over the planet, filling it with tiny jelly houses, tiny jelly trees, and tiny jellied jelly donuts. I’m just saying. It could happen.

Image by Paul Frank

Jelly babies have been around, in some form or another, since 1918. But artist Mauro Perucchetti was the first person to turn them into art. The sculptures, which are made out of  polyurethane resin, have been featured in several of his exhibitions and were most recently installed at Marble Arch in London's West End.

From the artist: “Twelve years ago I created a body of work inspired by the dilemma between cloning and religion, and cloning and medical ethics. I decided to use the jelly baby as an impersonation of cloned mankind. I was trying to capture the ambiguity that could be present in a cloned being. On first glance, they seem very sweet, but from certain angles, they can look slightly sinister, especially on a large scale."

My thoughts exactly. Like I said, watch your back. To learn more about the history of Jelly Babies, click here. You can also find more information on Mauro's work via the Halcyon Gallery right here, as well as on his personal website, here.

Tim Burton Caketrope by Alexandre Dubosc

Master of the Zoetrope, French artist Alexandre Dubosc has just released this stunning tribute to director Tim Burton, which features several references to Burton's films. Watch carefully and you'll see visual nods to the films Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow, and Burton's latest project, the stop-motion animated film, Frankenweenie. The "Caketrope," as Dubosc calls it, is actually not an animated film, although it may appear that way upon initial viewings, but is, in reality, a movie composed of still images. It is the rapid succession of these images that creates the illusion of movement. Pretty cool! For Burton fans and cake lovers alike! To see more of Dubosc's work, including additional edible zoetropes, click here.