“cm-VEGE” by art student Takuma Kamata
Our industrialized economy has consistently evolved to become more rational and efficient to the point that so much of our food is now processed so that it looks the same, tastes the same and can be shipped anywhere in the world. Raw fruits and vegetables are one of the last un-touched frontiers of food but even that is changing with genetic modification.
Japanese art student Takuma Kamata, expressing his distaste for the industrial output of foods, imagines a world where fruits and vegetables are processed and modified to be cylindrical, an ideal shape for transportation, storage and food preparation. In “cm-VEGE,” Kamata has realistically sculpted 10 different fruits and vegetables in cylindrical form, each consistent to its original size.
The display was created for Kamata’s senior thesis exhibition as he plans to graduate from Musashino Art University. The body of work features all 10 sculptures lined together on a table and sliced at 1-meter length, further emphasizing the grotesqueness of an imaginary future that doesn’t feel that far off. The artist’s intentional omission of any stems also feels like a metaphor for our endless satiation for food. And in Japan, a country that produces square watermelons, the sculptures feel particularly pertinent.
Each year, around this time, we like to review the many senior thesis exhibitions going on at art school in Japan and feature exceptional student work. You can see past student work here.
January 20, 2017 at 1:27 am
Plant scientists must get on this immediately! Salamified fruit will allow us the geometrically precise destinies of our dreams.
February 4, 2017 at 10:22 am
Perfect size and and shape for a pineapple pen!
February 5, 2017 at 2:02 pm
Those remind me of the hard boiled egg cylinders I saw at a restaurant kitchen about 40 years back.