Mixing food and art

Perfect blend

You may have walked past them a couple of times, touched them, looked at them, smelt them and perhaps even eaten them. But no one would have looked at these ordinary cooking ingredients the way Sudeep Gurtu has in his latest exhibition, Take A Closer Look, currently on at Gallery Caperberry, near Dickenson Road, for the next two months.

With the chillis lined up as little ‘fire birds’ or the contours of a mushroom leading one into a maze of mystery, Sudeep managed to play with the textures of a chosen few
ingredients and has given them a whole new look.

“This being the launch of a restaurant-cum-gallery, I didn’t want to shoot just food and make it look like a fast-food chain. Instead, I’ve tried to work with common ingredients used at the restaurant and tried to bring out its natural beauty,” explains Sudeep and adds, “Each ingredient not only has its own beauty but also has a mystery element attached to it. Through this series, I have tried to bring out each one’s personality and laid emphasis on a distinct character.”

Interestingly, Sudeep has refrained from using photoshop on any of the pictures. “Except for a few colour corrections, I have not used photoshop for any of the picture,” he confirms.

Being an ad photographer, Sudeep has shot a lot of food related photography, to an extent of being typecast.

But, the deep connection with food keeps beckoning him. Abhijit Saha, the owner of
the gallery-cum-restaurant, said, “Food by itself is an art. There are so many elements that go into making just one dish, and these photographs really remind one of all those elements.”

After seeing the plain white walls of the place, Abhijit, initially, thought of converting it into a platform for young talented artists, to showcase their work. But would it be restricted to food alone? “We hoping for that,” he laughs, “but we don’t want to restrict the artist to just food. It can be anything,” he adds.