At first glance you could be misled into thinking this was simply a pretty image of coloured blocks, or an arty optical illusion, but after your eyes adjust to the detailed images it soon becomes clear that these are in fact meticulously cut, symmetrical pieces of food – 98 to be precise!
The stunning image was borne of the request from Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant for artists, Lernert Engelberts and Sander Plug to create the visuals for an issue they were publishing on food.
With such a vast topic to cover they decided that the fundamental focus of the image should be the importance of each food item, therefore maintaining their own individual limelight, and the resulting 2.5cm precision cut cubes of food do exactly this.
The incredibly clever grid format of the piece also allows viewers to interact with the image. Within seconds you find yourself trying to unearth what food source exactly you are looking at, and in turn appreciating the finer elements of let’s say a watermelon, in a way you hadn’t done previously.
Underneath the immediate aesthetics of the piece there is a more serious idea concerning our food culture. The overriding theme of the project aims to reflect the way in which we think about food, it’s provenance, and show how even unprocessed food can become visually processed as you try and pick apart the food source you have in front you.
This playful approach is typical of the award winning creative duo, who have created previous projects including installations that showed 365 layers of makeup being applied to the face of Belgian supermodel Hannelore Knuts in one day, or the provocative video of a chocolate bunny who’s face melts off.
Take the challenge and try and see if you can identify all 98 food cubes by clicking on the images.
Findout more information about the food cubes as well as other projects here |lernertandsander.com