Miniature Scenes On Food

Seattle-based artist Christopher Boffoli's "Disparity" series aims to highlight America's culture of over-consumption, using hand painted railway model figurines glued into place onto real food. "I chose food as a backdrop because it is a constant," said Christopher.  "People see a striking image of food and are immediately drawn in because it is something familiar.   "Citrus mower" "As an American too I think my choice is conscious in terms of the strange and often negative relationship that many Americans have towards food. I mean, the work is mostly humorous on the surface and most viewers will react to the humour in it.  But I'm also perhaps making some other statements too about North America's food bounty, overuse, abuse and obsessions." "Green bean sawmill" Christopher feels though that humour must be at the core of every image he is creating. "The images have a strength and a personality of their own," said Christopher. But they are most often exhibited with captions that lend an extra bit of energy to the concept, and of course, often reinforce the laugh. Hopefully it gives the viewer a laugh at the expectation of events that may have followed." "Blackberry CSI" Working on his project since 2006, Christopher has been inspired by the Lilliputians of 'Gulliver's Travels' to create his scenes. "The set-ups come from a very organic place," said Christopher. "I'll usually start with the food, seeing what's in season at the farmer's market, considering what I've shot before. Or I think about iconic foods, like Oreo cookies. I also consider how I can populate those images with figures with a context that makes sense. "Pepperoni fire brigade" "These images look simple but can be tedious to set-up," said Christopher. "I'll often try to do multiple set-ups over a few hours.  Some go quickly.  Others take longer.  I'll work out lighting and depths-of-field. There is a certain corner of my studio that I tend to use for this project.   "Apple tart flasher" "We have a lot of overcast days here in Seattle so it has marvellous, diffused light. I try to use available light as much as possible, though if I'm still working as the evening approaches I'll set up a couple of off-camera slaves to add light. " "Pepper vespas" "Peanut butter cup repair technicians" "Chocolate cake crumb vacuum" "Clamshell lovers" "Barricade challengers" "Pancake production crew" "Waffle beekeepers" "Kiwi painters" "S'mores cupcake skier" "Macaron production team" "Cucumber sunbathers" "Hand warmer" "Chocolate quarry" "Advanced yoga" "Carrot runners" "Rhubarb tart fishermen"