Mini Post #3 Michael Matusz

I saw a lot of unique pieces of artwork while getting the tour at the Feast & Famine exhibit. A main theme that immediately came to my mind was the longevity of food in the world. A lot of the artwork had to do with different aspects of food and how people tend to get their food. People all around the world tend to eat meat and to do that, animals have to be killed. Eventually, the human population is going to wipe out all of the animals in which we get our food from. What happens after that? I believe this art exhibit was made to raise attention about how to find a more efficient and productive way to find food.

What It Once Was, Tamara Kostianovsky 2011

This artwork above is supposed to symbolize a carcass of an animal. The chains that are holding up the carcass gives it more of a barbaric look. The artist is trying to show people how we get our food and how it is not going to last in the long run. Humans are going to be looking frantically for food once we kill off all of our food (animals).

Taco, Shanthony Exum 2018

This artwork just simply portrays another source of food that people eat. It has a wide variety of food that includes: tacos, pizza, bacon, eggs, watermelon, etc. This picture has a more positive vibe to it because of the fact that we can get a lot of these items by not killing anything. For example, people can grow watermelon in their gardens and people can use chickens to take their eggs. This is a more reliable way to extend the longevity of our food supply.  

Still Life With Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, And Pretzels, Clara Peters 1611

This painting in our textbook really exemplifies what humans should incorporate more into our daily diets. All organic items that can easily be grown and can be reproduced without any drawbacks. This painting would fit into the art exhibit for that exact reason. The food items in this picture is what Kostianovsky is trying to incorporate more into our diets. Kostianovsky wants people to reduce their intake of meats and substitute it for more organic food.

Still Life With Quince, Cabbage, Melon, And Cucumber, Juan Sanchez Cotan 1602

This painting from Cotan displays a sample of food items that can be grown through agriculture. Back in the day when this painting was made, the majority of peoples' diets consisted of all agriculture. As time progressed, people started to stray away from that diet because of the easy access to other types of food. People were able to receive food with less work than planting seeds and then pulling up those crops when they are done being grown.

All of these pictures have the theme of longevity of food. As time went on and more and more people inhibited the earth, humans needed more food to survive. As a result, people developed processed foods that were a lot more quick and easy to produce even though they weren't as healthy for people. It was easier to produce and thats all that people cared about.

Works cited

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. Sixth ed., II, Pearson, 2018.