Potato gets elevated to high-art in new photography exhibition

To Dutch fashion photographers Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm a potato and a Rolex are like potatopotahto they shoot the former exactly as they shoot the latter A new exhibition at Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation JNAF CSMVS called StillLife in collaboration with Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam presents this side of Dutch photography and art an obsession with the humble the boring the drabCurator of JNAF Kamini Sawhney says Theyve shot the potato in such lavish detail and lighting that it looks like a jewel It also harks back to the famous The Potato Eaters by Van Gogh Marcel Feil curator of the show says If you pay attention you see the beauty in the potato a huge richness of colours in its skin Each potato is different These are portraits of individual potatoes So its both still life and portrait photographyPotato by Anuschka Blommers and Niels SchummSixteen photographers are represented in the show with 48 photographs and five videos The potato series includes four portraits The thread that connects all the works is irony Every image says one thing but actually means something else says Feil For instance a series of six photographs that looks like expensive vases by Maurice Scheltens and Liesbeth Abbenes The objects consist of very cheap trophies says FeilThese trophies are mass produced The photographers deconstructed a trophy into different pieces and reconstructed in various ways to make these shapes Then they did a very smart thing They put the newly constructed trophy inside a carton and three sides of the box excluding the backdrop were covered with cheap cloth that people use in the kitchen The cloth is reflected in the trophy So it looks like porcelain like china very beautifully handpainted but its not Its an illusionCurator Marcel Feil against the Bouquet series PicBipin KokateThe same photographer duo has shot four still lifes with cutouts of flowers and fruits which spread across the canvas like a hastilymade bouquet For most people these are visually directly related to the Dutch painterly tradition of stilllife painting in the 17th century with flowers and fruits says Feil But again its not what you think it is The original paintings are appreciated because of their naturalistic qualities They are so real you can almost smell the flowers In the 17th century when an artist decided to paint fruit it was quite exceptional because fruit in itself is not so special So why would they decide to paint fruitsThe short answer is the artist was a showboat The long answer is It can be quite challenging to make a still life that contains a glass with water reflection through the glass with a piece of fur of a dead rabbit or some fruits or a fish So the skins are different In order to paint this in a very convincing way is really difficult So these still lifes were a way to show the artists skill look I can master reality The photographers instead constructed their image by scissoring through cooking books auction catalogues and books on art history So its a play between real and not real which is a given for photographySeries after series in the exhibition questions reality Another set has card paper folded like planes that will never take off If you treat a piece of paper like origami it becomes a paper flower And when you play with lighting it becomes threedimensional For most people photography is related to visual realityAnd it is more or less a truthful representation of official surroundings it is not Because photography like painting is a subjective medium So our perception is tricked We tend to believe what we think we see So its also a lesson look carefully look closely and even ordinary banal things can become beautifulLike a single potato when looked at closely can become truly singularWhen Till February 10Where Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation CSMVS FortEntry Rs 85Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates