Bizarre or trending subjects? Catch a break with our curiosity of the week. Jean-Baptiste Bonhomme presents his pop culinary sculptures – quirky and committed creations.
Jean-Baptiste Bonhomme views photography as “therapeutic, in a somewhat sad world”. The medium first appeared to him as a way to immortalise an ephemeral practice: graffiti. “I knew that once finished, my work could be erased quickly, that only the image would remain”, he tells us. Later on, the artist started building culinary staged scenes. “Five years ago, I created a project called Bye bye peanuts, through which I invented ceremonies around the act of eating, he adds, I was trained as a pastry chef, so my relationship to the product is meticulous”.
Denouncing the ills of society
The photographer’s culinary sculptures were inspired by pop culture. With humour, Jean-Baptiste distorts brands and politicians. Among the artist’s quirky productions, we can find a hilarious fast-food version of Trump. “I am inspired by the news, but most of my ideas come from observing people in supermarkets, Jean-Baptiste tells us. My images often focus on the way we consume products.”
Influenced by surrealism – especially by Magritte’s painting, which distort our vision of reality – the photographer never leaves anything to chance. “None of my pictures are edited, my productions are sculptures above all else”. He handles brilliantly both humour and irony, to denounce some of the ills of our society: “addiction, environmental issue, overconsumption…” A committed food design with a pinch of pop colours
© Jean-Baptiste Bonhomme