Have you ever encountered an old still life painting in a gallery or museum and thought it was “speaking” a foreign language? For example, you’ve probably seen many works of art like these incorporating items from a simple meal to a lavish feast. If we focus on the 17th to 19th centuries, food in art indeed had hidden meanings in many still life paintings. However, you’re not alone in wanting to decipher these messages, and works of art are not as impenetrable or mysterious as they can often seem.
Join visual artist and art lecturer Regina Mamou (Art Muse Los Angeles) as she takes us on a journey to explore the ideas and stories behind important still life paintings incorporating food as a metaphor for culture and society. We will start in the 17th century to look at early artists incorporating food in visual art, such as Clara Peeters. Later, we will view works of art, including artists between the 18th and 19th centuries, like Gustave Caillebotte, working with food as symbolism for a changing environment as industrial inventions started to occur.
Learning the Language of Art – Food in Art Edition is a fun, unpretentious, and participatory show. We will unpack, demystify, and learn to converse about images through three “rounds” of tips, games, and group hilarity. If you’ve ever encountered food in art at a museum or gallery that is a head-scratcher, we will break down the artwork’s main ideas while learning language and vocabulary to describe and explain it. This is a chance to impress friends and family with your newfound appreciation and understanding of food and its history. If you’ve ever felt like a picture is speaking a secret language, then let us help you speak it too!
ZOOM!
Regina Mamou is a Los Angeles-based visual artist and art lecturer with a specialization in photography and contemporary art. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and is the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship to Jordan. Regina is a first-generation Iraqi American and a third-generation Polish American. Her background has informed much of her artwork. She is currently the first artist-in-residence at The Wende Museum of the Cold War (Los Angeles, California), where she is working on a project about the relationship between the Middle East and the Soviet Union. Regina has been an art educator and lecturer since 2006. She started her work in museum education at The Art Institute of Chicago, lecturing on a wide variety of art topics and special exhibitions. She also held the role of study leader, a position where she was responsible for extensive research in art for The Art Institute of Chicago’s travel programs to Cuba, Morocco, and Poland. Regina joined the team of Art Muse Los Angeles in 2014 and continues to lead virtual and in-person tours in the Los Angeles area.
Once registered, you can access the Zoom room for this experience through your confirmation email or Eventbrite account. Atlas Obscura online experiences are recommended for attendees age 13+.
This online experience will be recorded. A temporary link to the recording will be provided in a follow-up email to all ticket holders within 72 hours after the event. Access to this recording will be available for seven days.
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