Bent Objects: The 'Art' Of Food
Yes, Terry Border takes pictures of his food. But he's not just snapping pictures of his sandwich to share with friends on Instagram. Nor is he photographing dishes for cookbooks and commercials. Instead, he uses his camera to give his food a little personality, and people are eating it up.
With a medium-sized iced Americano in his hand, Terry Border headed over to the food section at Target. He walked up and down the snack aisles until a bag of Cheetos caught his attention. No, he wasn't hungry. Rather, the positioning of the orange snacks on the cover of this bag reminded him of something, of French sculptor Rodin's "The Kiss." Border proceeded to carry the bag to the register. He had found the subject for his next project.
Defining what exactly Border does is definitely difficult. Once a commercial photographer, a baker, and a wire sculptor, he shies away from referring to his current projects as works of art. But what is it then? His projects tend to make social and political commentaries. His images are witty, innovative, and sometimes even pornographic. Using wires, lighting, and his camera, he represents ordinary objects and foods in unique and clever ways. Border lessens the gap between the static nature of ordinary objects and the dynamism of human life. For that reason, let's call it something, anything; let's call it art.
Lately Border has been spending a lot of time with circus peanuts, since they are the stars of his first narrative book. A favorite snack of his wife and daughter, circus peanuts have been relatively easy for him to work with because of their hard shell and their likelihood to survive through more than one scene. Yet, Border has photographed much more than peanuts, and not all of the subjects have been as easy to work with. Hot dogs, french fries, marshmallows, lemons, eggs, carrots, pears, among many others, have been the subjects of his works. So many of these foods are fragile. Border admitted, "Donuts and hard-boiled eggs barely stay together long enough to get on the set."
The food subject that proved to be most problematic, however, was the banana. "Bananas are very, very difficult. Not only do I have to make wire supports to help them stand up, but it's amazing how quickly a banana will start to bruise and discolor," he said.
Border doesn't let the aggravations of delicate donuts and breakable eggs bother him anymore, though. "Every food object has a weakness and a strength. It just works in the end. I used to get upset when I would get everything ready only to have it not work out. And now it's an expected thing. It's not a surprise that things fall apart," he said.
Fortunate for us, it doesn't seem like Border has lost any of his patience in the process. Nor has he lost any of his drive. The future of Bent Objects looks very bright, complete with more greeting cards, calendars, jigsaw puzzles, and a narrative book. So it seems like Border will continue to make those trips to Target, grabbing a medium-sized Iced American, roaming the aisles, and waiting for inspiration to strike.
Want to see more of Border's work? Scroll through his Bent Objects blog (or see more scandalous shots on his Really Bent blog). Find some of his greeting cards at your nearest Target. Spend all next year with him by ordering his 2013 calendar. Soon, you will be able to spend your afternoon putting together one of his prints via jigsaw puzzle. Until then, you can also buy one of his two books — Bent Object of My Affection: The Twists and Turns of Love and Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things.