Let’s be honest, photos of food are a double edged sword of sorts. Most people will roll their eyes when they see others doing it, but then again, most people have done it. We like to share things from our daily life as much as we like to nag about the frivolity of sharing other people do. Marta Tuta, a Zagreb based painter, also likes to record her meals and share them with other people, but in a different way. She draws her meals, and has been doing it for a year.
It might be a best of both worlds scenario. Food was always a major motif in paintings throughout history, especially still life ones and by illustrating her daily meals, Tuta continues that tradition in classical art. On the other hand, the rhythm of her work, starting a new illustration each day, changing the accuracy of her lines for playfulness so she doesn’t take too much of her time, forgetting about her work from the previous day and moving onto a new one, she gives her illustrations that feeling of momentariness or in the now associated with our instant, disposable, photo sharing digital culture. She works in the frame of our Zeitgeist using the concepts of the past.
But the whole point is sharing and after a year of documenting her meals, creating her own illustrated calendar of intimate yet mundane moments, she decided to share them with an exhibition. Titled Ručanja (Lunches), the exhibition will open in PM gallery at the Croatian Association of Artists’ home (HDLU, Žrtava fašizma square) on Friday, September 2nd.
‘Main dishes, sides, drinks and desserts make up the compositions that convey a simple, but systematically elaborated visual language. The diversity of the menu demonstrates the creativity in creating and preparing dishes, where each dish has a different background. Through food and ingredients of her lunches, Marta Tuta can evoke feelings and use smells to trigger memories of the events of the particular day. She used food to record her schedules, thoughts and events throughout the year, spicing them up with various delicacies’, wrote Marijana Paula Ferenčić, curator, in the forward for the exhibition.
Ručanja will be opened until September 11th.
