'Food for the Eyes': The story of food in photography
An essential part of everyday life, Food is an often unheralded yet central motif in art, and especially photography. From Swiss artists Fischli and Weiss to Cindy Sherman, C/O Berlin celebrates feasts for the eyes.
Hot Dogs
Taken from Martin Parr's "The Last Resort" series capturing the Liverpool beach resort of New Brighton in 1983-85, hungry bathers are shown purchasing snacks — most especially hot dogs with sauce — while swimming at the working class coastal getaway.
Haming it up
The "Sausage Photographs" from 1979 were one of the breakout works for Swiss art duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss. The bizarre sausage characters are dressed in cloaks made of ham and processed meat, with the humorous work having been inspired by a trip to a Zurich supermarket.
Summer on a plate
"Summer still life" is a 1995 work by German artist Wolfgang Tillmans featuring a plate of blueberries, cherries, grapes, a tomato and an apricot. Sitting amid paraphernalia on a window ledge, the vivid mix of colors evokes a summery combination of flavors.
Lemonhead
With her painted photograph from the series "Peluquería" ("Hairdressing Salon"), the photographer Ouka Leele forces the viewer to think from the perspective of 1979. Is this just a successful advertising aesthetic? A colorful and undoubtedly refreshing image used to market lemonade? Either way, it awakens the senses.
Guilty pleasure
This image of pink pig cupcakes arouses both pleasure and discomfort. On a level, they look appetizing; but there's something offputting, even sad, about these swine sweets. The picture is from Martin Parr's 1998 "Common Sense" series taken in Weston Super Mare, a seaside town in North Somerset, England.
Beach picnic
The tormented face of a woman lying on a beach is reflected in sunglasses in the midst of what looks like the rancid remains of a gluttonous beach picnic. The American photographer Cindy Sherman here uses food to evoke a broader societal sickness.
Carb loading
The Austrian-American photographer Arthur "Weegee" Fellig famously captured New York street life — along with scenes from the city's illicit underground — during the 1940s. This snapshot of a man shoveling a massive fork of pasta into his mouth is in fact Phillip J. Stazzone, a soldier on leave who his making the most of his favorite food.
Feminist cooking show
Martha Rosler's video installation "Semiotics of the Kitchen" (1975) is a parody of the then-growing popularity of cooking shows on television in the 1970s, and the idea that a "woman's place is in the kitchen." The American artist transforms harmless everyday kitchen utensils into menacing weapons as the woman rises up against her domestic bondage.