Personal work – Pop fruit & Pop veg

PERSONAL WORK | Pop Fruit and Pop Veg
Tanya Zouev

PROJECT DATE
July 2017 to July 2018

A series of conceptual food images of fruit and vegetables inspired by the pop art era of artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. I studied this visually distinct génre of art whilst at photography college in the early 90’s and it was one that interested me enough to actually turn up to art history lectures rather than hide away in darkrooms.

I loved how an ordinary and mundane object could be turned into a dramatic and appealing piece of art through use of dramatic contrast levels and intensely saturated colours. Suddenly a can of soup or a rotary dial phone became extraordinary, commanding attention that it hadn’t before. Andy Warhol particularly interested me as I felt the level of conviction that he brought across in his work made all of this creations seem so authentic and meant-to-be.

Aside from high contrast levels and saturated colours, I have also employed a technique called focus stacking and most of these images are made up of at least twenty exposures and then merged together in post processing software. This creates a surreal, overly-sharp look that further lends itself to the pop art influence, cementing my pineapples, pomegranates and bananas in a land of whimsy and pop culture.

Photography, styling and retouching by Tanya Zouev.