Obst und Gemüse is a charming visual exploration of fruit and veg

The art world has a long lineage of drawing inspiration from humble fruit and veg: think Matisse’s surreal apple, Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s absurdist Renaissance portraits; Warhol’s banana for the Velvet Underground and so many more.

© Robin Davey

© Robin Davey

Now, a younger group of creatives has responded to the theme with Obst und Gemüse (fruit and vegetables in German), creating new works across ceramics, prints, and textiles. 

“Obst und Gemüse (fruit and veg) is still life, it’s landscapes, shop scenes, breakfast, pickles, pips, rotten bits in the fridge, stickers, crates, stems. It’s written on the paper bags of the market stalls of Berlin,” said the organisers of the group show at The Kuratiert illustration gallery in Berlin.

Among the 18 artists showing their work are some CB favourites like Martina Paukova, along with others including Helena Covell, Holly St Clair, Raúl Soria, Molly Dyson, Laura Junger, Robin Davey, and Jesse Warby—and it’s great to finally see so many women creatives making up the majority of the participants, as well as a range of artists from those who are more established to some at the very beginnings of their career.

There’s a huge range of responses here too, as you might expect from such a broad theme: Covell worked in ceramics for instance, while we’ll see a textile piece by Jesse Warby, and new illustrations by Paukova, St Clair, Davey, Soria, members of Berlin’s Random Collective, and more.

“It’s a celebration of fruit and vegetables – and everything in between. The pips and rot, stickers and crates, as well as the juicy delights,” says the gallery.

The gallery’s been showing some lovely work of late – back in April, we covered its show of work by Aga Giecko, which celebrated the centenary of the Bauhaus. The show runs from 18 June - 27 July.

© Leonie Herzog

© Leonie Herzog

© Martina Paukova

© Martina Paukova

© Guille Comin

© Guille Comin

© Josefina Preumayr

© Josefina Preumayr

© Tatjana Junker

© Tatjana Junker

© Elda Broglio

© Elda Broglio

© Baris Cavusoglu

© Baris Cavusoglu

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