Oil painter Rod Corraini explores the peculiar relationship humans have with food in his latest exhibit.
His series, paintings about food, started four years ago and comments on the importance of food for humans and strange situations the artist has seen over the years.
It started when he went to a local park and saw kids eating fast food next to the playground equipment. Corraini said that even though the equipment costs thousands of dollars it was barely used.
“I thought it was quite humorous, a slap in the face of ParticipAction,” he said. “It inspired me to do the whole series.”
His exhibit, which includes 23 paintings, is on display until Jan. 31 at Art 10 Gallery in Nanaimo North Town Centre.
Corraini said his work is about ideas and observations. He doesn’t try to be “preachy.”
“I just find odd things that tickle my fancy,” he said.
In one of his paintings, Corraini comments on the idea that the food people eat also has the potential to eat humans. The painting features a squid engulfing a man’s head.
“If you get caught in a school of them it could be potentially fatal. They could eat you,” said Corraini. “I love calamari, but squids could eat me.”
He uses images of shrimp, lobsters, sharks, alligators and snakes to illustrate the point.
Corraini doesn’t comment on chemicals, preservatives or GMOs but said it might be a possibility in the future.
“Food is really important. If we don’t eat we die. As humans we like to doctor up food a bit,” said Corraini. “I love to cook food and when I cook food I think about the irony around food.”
The oil painter said there seems to be no end to the ideas he can explore around food and the series is something he continues to build on over the years.
For more information about Art 10 Gallery, please go to www.MyArtClub.Com/Art.10.Gallery.
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