A Table Of Desserts By Wayne Thiebaud Pie Counter

Food and shelter are essential to human survival, and in various cultures art and rituals help ensure these neccesities. Moreover, the relationship between art and food and shelter ensures the serving, storage, and enjoying the food. The painting by Wayne ThieBaud Pie Counter (Figure 5.15) deal with food as a visual display and as a popular icon rather than as nutrition for the body. The object- pie- is a clear relation to the food that we consume, but it also manifest a context which also illustrates the standardization and plentifulness in contemporary mass-produced cafeteria food. Those features are also very appealing to Americans, which is also why the consumption of those goods is plentiful in America. The painting also alludes to the fact that abundance of fattening food has become something to resist rather than something to eat. On the other hand, mass-media advertising challenges this notion, and encourages people to treat themselves with desserts. It’s important to notice than the object displayed in this painting is a pie, which serves as a dessert, not a necessary survival food. Using a pie as a main
This painting relates to the idea that abundance of food indicates wealth and well-being. The food is not shown ad a person standing or sitting at the table, rather than that food is displayed by itself in an elaborate painting. Silver and Gold trays also indicate the idea of wealth, which goes well with the abundance of food on the table. This particular painting clearly illustrates the theme- food- which is the only object presented in the painting. However, the context of the painting and its historical background helps to understand that in Baroque era painting of food was almost a fetish, and it served as an indication of upper social class. Even without the historical context, even nowadays the abundance of food can be related to well being of human