Culinary magic

Is it art?

This is a question I have heard many times. It follows on from the broader question:

"What is art?"

I see a lot of art in art museums, sometimes in artists' studios and exhibitions, some of which I might struggle to understand. The question of whether it is art never particularly concerns me, however. Although I do sometimes ask myself why it can be considered art or, more to the point, how and where does the artistic spirit of the work exist.

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Edgar Degas

In short I think that if a person wants to make something and put it on display as a work of art, I have no reason to question their judgement or intentions. If that person is in any way established as an artist, that pretty much seals the deal. Likewise, if an art museum, commercial art studio, public library or any other institution with an interest in art decided to curate a work, or group of works for display, who am I to question the results?

“Art is the highest form of hope.” Gerhard Richter

Does it then follow that I can be an artist? Am I capable of creating an artistic work? I have never trained as an artist, never studied art in any formal sense, and have no skill at drawing, painting or sculpting. I guess I do have some ability as a photographer, and this might be considered by some to be an artistic skill but I certainly do not think of myself as an artist.

"Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” Pablo Picasso

Yet despite this denial, I have attempted to make some art for an upcoming exhibition. Want to see it? You can, as it appears as the featured image above. What do you think?

“Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” Leonardo da Vinci

When I contemplated creating something for this particular exhibition, I thought that it would have to include photography. I also wondered about using words and typography, and combining these in a digital image. I therefore came up with the above work.

My artwork was created by combining a photograph of a cheap, mass-produced kitchen utensil that had been modified using a pyrographic technique. I had nothing to do with burning the legend into the wood, I bought the item at a fair. The fair took place during Witchfest, an event and gathering of witches and pagans held in November 2023 in Croydon, a district of Greater London. The pentagram is a pagan symbol representing the Earth. It is also associated with magical practices and witchcraft generally.

Am I capable of creating an artistic work?

I photographed the wooden utensil on a wooden kitchen worktop, easily identifiable by the cuts across the grain of the composite wood block. I then added the words "Culinary magic" to the cropped digital photo using the Paint application on my laptop. I chose the font (Century Gothic) and selected colors for the letters and background to mirror the colors of the wood and burnt letters. The even, digitally-created sans-serif lines of the font is in contrast with the hand-written (probably stencilled) stylized lettering on the spatula.

Is it all nonsense?

Why did I do all of this? What I am trying to achieve with this work is to create a kind of dynamic tension between the objects and the words. What does the comment "Culinary magic" mean? It is part statement, part question. Do you believe in magic? Does the person who made the writing on the spatula believe in magic. Are the words "As I stir, health confer" a wish, a magical incantation, a spell? If you use the implement and say the words, do you invoke magical powers? Is art a kind of magic? Is cooking a kind of magic? Does the pentagram symbol add to the magical nature of the whole thing? Is it all nonsense?

These are all the kind of questions you could ask when looking at any artwork. A work of art is full of hidden meaning and unravelling the mystery of a painting, sculpture or other work of art is all part of the joy of experiencing art.

I hope you find something of interest in "Culinary magic" and do please share your thoughts by commenting on this work.

Thanks for reading and thanks for looking at my art work.

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The quotes above are as attributed, sources various, as suggested by my AI assistant and including: mymodernmet.com/art-quotes/

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