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If all the sky were
apple pie, the Pleasures of the Table - May 2003
McIntyre St. Gallery, Regina
Food as a traditional subject of art began with the ancient
Greeks and Romans, who lined their banqueting halls with frescoes
of "menus", and has continued down to contemporary
artists working through many different forms and contexts. In
the 16th and 17th century, Dutch, French and Italian paintings
of rare imported foods comprised a specialized form of still
life. Possession and display of such a painting proclaimed a
status of affluence, at a time when the majority of the population
lived on porridge and rough ale. Contemporary western society
has transferred this yearning for visions of perpetual sensual
pleasure in paintings for the select few, to elaborately illustrated
coffee table recipe books and cooking show spectaculars for
our ever desiring palates.
In contemplating reasons as to why I chose food as a focal point
to explore ideas, it struck me that as humans we are seduced
by images that play on our senses and feed on needs far beyond
physical desires. Fairy stories and picture books where tables
abound with every kind of edible delight constantly replenished
at every bite, may underline a primitive fear of going hungry
and a deep instinct to acquire and secure physical necessities.
From the magic "porridge pot" that is never empty,
to the Northern Renaissance artist Bruegel's stuffed and collapsing
peasants in the overflowing food fantasy of his painting "The
Land of Coquaine", art and literature is full of dream
stories of "more-than-enough".
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Cooking with Northern Pike |
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