Playing with Food – Vegetables Transformed into Art Masterpieces
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Chinese artist Ju Duoqi puts a whole new meaning to ‘playing with your food,’ transforming ordinary vegetables into veggie replicas of legendary works of art by masters such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, and Andy Warhol’s Marylin Monroe.
Picasso’s The Dream in tofu. Photo Bigpicturesphoto.com
Ju Duoqi’s kitchen is her studio, and vegetables are her paint. The 35-year-old artist uses boiled, dried, fried, and pickled vegetables, finishing with the fastest-rotting ingredients to create her masterpiece versions made entirely out of vegetables.
Her art breathes new life into ordinary vegetables, taking ‘green art’ to the extreme using everyday vegetables such as tofu, cabbage, ginger, lotus roots, coriander, and sweet potatoes.
Lumpy potatoes acquire expressive facial features, and radish roots, lettuce leaves, and cloves of garlic are transformed into Botticelli’s Venus.
The Birth Of Venus. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
The Birth Of Venus. Photo Bigpicturesphoto.com
Ju used cabbage and garlic for Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. Photo Bigpicturesphoto.com
Sichuan-born Ju carefully slices and carves the veggies, and then assembles her works with toothpicks, taking up to 2 weeks to complete a single recreation of some of the world’s most famous works in photographs.
The former website and computer game designer turned artist has been creating about 2 vegetable sculptures a month since 2006.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa recreated out of vegetables.
Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People in a sweet potato.
Photo Bigpicturesphoto.com
Ju’s version of Vincent van Gogh’s self-portrait using cucumber and carrot.
Photo Bigpicturesphoto.com
The 35-year-old artist says she wants to bring art into everyday life, proving it exists in every household kitchen.
“This is very easy — I just take a knife and slice. One cut can turn into so many different things. In my view, this is very simple.” says Ju.
“The different types, shapes, and colors of the vegetables with a bit of rearranging can make for a rich source of imagery. Fresh, withered, rotting, dried, pickled, boiled, fried, they all come out different.”
“I no longer needed a model, as they all became actors and even props. As a director, I directed them to restage La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, and called it La Liberté Guidant les Légumes.”
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Pickled Cabbage. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Raft of the Lotus Roots. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
The Third of May 2008. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
“You wouldn’t know them any better if they were chopped into French fries and covered in ketchup, but when placed in the picture, they all appear unfamiliar and rich in facial expression.”
“On the ground lies the body of a winter melon soldier, with rotting ketchup flowing out of his body like blood. The battleground is strewn with rotting vegetable leaves. This great story of history, this world-famous painting, here becomes completely absurd.”
Pickled Cucumber on the Volga. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Napoleon on Potatoes. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
The Kiss of the Radishes. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
These ’simple techniques’ pay Ju’s bills, as photos taken of the culinary masterpieces go for between $1,500 to $2,000 US each.
Her works which also include replicas of famous pieces such as Monet’s self-portrait and Leonardo’s Mona Lisa created with tofu are currently showcased at the Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery for ‘The Vegetable Museum’ exhibition.
Her organic version of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Munroe fashioned from cabbage and a spring onion sold within a few hours of the exhibition’s launch to a foreign buyer, hungry for what could be called ‘crop art.’
Birthday of the Eggplants. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Birth of the Gingerman. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Scream of the Sweet Potatoes. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
“As a medium that decodes time, photography is my favorite.” Ju said. “Everything has a spirit, each vegetable, each person, and each second, under careful observation, has extraordinary meaning.”
“What makes me happy is that when I see Napoleon on his Potato, I can think back to when I fried him up and ate him at 2 in the morning in the summer of ’08. Through photographs, memory becomes sentiment.”
Picasso with Onions and Noodles. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Death of the Cabbage Head. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
The Sleeping Taroman. Photo Paris-Beijing Gallery
Born in 1973 in Chongqing, Ju Duoqi graduated from The Sichuan Fine Arts College, and currently lives and works in Beijing.
The Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery’s exhibition of The Vegetable Museum by Ju Duoqi runs from November 23rd 2008 to January 24th 2009.
Ju Duoqi’s kitchen studio.
Ju Duoqi’s Vegetable Masterpieces
Sources: Daily Mail and Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery
Tags:art artist artists arts bizarre food Ju Duoqi masterpieces odd unusual vegetables
Just amazing! When we were kids, we were told not to play with our food. Either these artists didn’t listen or they discovered that there really is art in food design.
Thanks for photos, I’ll never look at a Caesar Salad the same way again!
Fascinating stuff. I taught my kids, my adopted kids AND my grand kids NOT PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!! I hope they never get around to seeing this because I’ll stand no earthly chance with my great grand kids when they get around to understanding what ‘NO!’, ‘STOP PLAYING WITH IT” and “JUST EAT IT” means!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow thats interesting. Really enjoyed this post with such nice picutes. Will keep reading your blog from now on =)
Okay, now THAT is truly amazing! I just sent this link to my brother, who is a chef.
Ok that’s cute, but Guisepe Arcimboldo already did this 450 years ago. Guess there is nothing new under the sun
These are great! Mona Lisa caught my eye i had to look at it for a minute haha. Keep it up!
i guess there’s just no boundary to creativity. some of them looks so real!! just amazing!
What an interesting post. All these pictures made of vegetables look really good. It’s funny what can all be done with vegetables, but perhaps you have to be very creative to do such sculptures.
it is really amazing! unique and fresh idea…
Wow these look amazing and tasty.
really cool art works.
nice
nice
nice
nice
^^,
that’s all…
Pinoy Fear Factor
What an interesting post. All these pictures made of vegetables look really good. It’s funny what can all be done with vegetables, but perhaps you have to be very creative to do such sculptures.
What an interesting post. All these pictures made of vegetables look really good. It’s funny what can all be done with vegetables, but perhaps you have to be very creative to do such sculptures.
hi there..you really have a great blog. it delivers so accurate and important information ot us.
thanks and keep up the good work ^^,
This fella is amazing, she is so inspirational and she made me thinking how her approach of turning everyday things in to masterpieces could apply to my business which is honestly pretty boring. Thanks for the share. you are already among my favorite websites
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Whoever have done it, have great creative mind. Not an easy job. Another amazing post.what else can we expect from you. You have really great blog!!
indeed creative job!! really fascinated by the way object can turn into beautiful art. Thanks for the post.
-regards
It’s great to see such a positive response to this artist’s unique work. Thanks everyone, I’m glad you enjoy it as much as I did
nice! the mona lisa & van gogh are my favorites
just awesome, how do you come up with ideas like that ?
Rapidshare King’s last blog post..Wendy and Lucy 2008
This is a combination of my favourite things in Paris, cheap food, culture, creativity and da Vinci’s master pieces. This would have impressed and inspired Monet for another master piece.
Cheap Food in Paris’s last blog post..Paris Musee d’Orsay
what an amazing creativity and i loved the idea and its not at all an easy task to do this.
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In my sense it involves mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, of the creative mind between existing ideas to do such excellent things.
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Gorgeous talent and Talent is not synonymous with creativity. For, unlike the talent concept , which most often means being good in a certain field, the concept of creativity is that it is a point of view, an approach towards the mundane that transforms every blade of grass into a wonder of life.
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Never imagined such creativity,wish i could this ,loved the thing very much.
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Great post and great article.
Here is to great content on the web!
If I had more time, or when I finish my MBA must make it a point to learn some French. There are so many museums that I would love to visit and understand without guides.