Thursday Salute to Originals: A Thanksgiving Feast for Your Eyes
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and we’re ready to please our pallets with savory gravy, tender turkey, tart cranberry sauce, fluffy mashed potatoes, and so much more. It’s easy to catch ourselves drooling just thinking about all of the different foods and their tastes, but what about the way they look? Their colors, shapes, and sizes? Yes, Thanksgiving dinner is certainly a feast for our stomachs; yet we can also make this festive dinner into a feast for our eyes as well. We’re going to show you 3 artists to inspire the way you prepare and serve your Thanksgiving dinner this year!
1. Hikaru Cho
Wouldn’t it be humorous if your guests thought they were biting into a hard-boiled egg, but it was really an onion? Okay, maybe they wouldn’t find it funny, but you might get a laugh! We got this devilish idea from Japanese artist Hikaru Cho who takes ordinary food items – like eggs, bananas, and tomatoes – and disguises them by painting them to resemble other foods. The photos below are part of a series titled It’s Not What it Seems. Each piece was painted meticulously with acrylic paint, making them appear to be a completely different food altogether. It is both shocking and comedic to view the photos exposing the reality of each food. Now we’re not saying you should go around fooling your guests this Thanksgiving… But if you know a few good sports, try getting a little crafty with your cooking!
Want to avoid cleaning off your face and hands after biting into a couple drumsticks? Take a cue from Lernert & Sander who photographed 98 cubes of unprocessed food. Each cube is precisely 2.5cmx2.5cm – the ultimate bite size! After being commissioned by newspaper de Volkskrant to capture a food-related photo, Lernert & Sander decided to cut 98 different types of food into seemingly identical cubes to create equality. They didn’t want the mackerel to overshadow the corn, or the steak to undermine the mushroom. Couldn’t you apply this same concept to your own Thanksgiving dinner? Why should the turkey be the central dish? Make the green bean casserole and the sweet potatoes stars (or squares), too!
So we’ve talked about shaking up Thanksgiving with pranks and bite-sized foods, now let’s discuss color. Photographer Emily Blincoe provides us with the best color and gradient inspiration with her food and floral “arrangements.” Whether you want to try color-coding the veggies, the side dishes, desserts, or even your tables’ centerpieces, you’re sure to find an idea from Emily. Her photographs are strangely calming and satisfying to view. Of course, they also give us an appetite, and your dinner tomorrow could have the same effect if you wanted to give color arrangements a whirl. Your guests might not want to ruin your vibrant presentation, so encourage them to take a photograph before digging in… Just like Emily!
This Thanksgiving we’re saluting Hikaru Cho for providing us with comedic relief just when the stress of the holidays are kicking in; Lernert & Sander for their visually impressive and perfectly-sized food cubes to pop in our mouths; and Emily Blincoe for her lovely arrangements and giving us the ultimate guide to using color when plating our meals. These artists have inspired us to turn our Thanksgiving dinners into more than just another delicious feast. With a little creativity, we can turn them into art!
Sources: Hikaru Cho, This is Colossal, Lernert and Sander, Bon Appetit, Emily Blincoe, Bored Panda, Emily Blincoe Tumblr