The Fantastical Feasts is a collection of whimsical panoramic photographs depicting live creatures, great and small, reveling around elaborate feast tables. The series utilizes the icon of the banquet and the Last Supper to encourage viewers to consider those in the animal kingdom more humanly affording them more rights and status. By placing animals in a setting typically reserved for humans, it raises the question of whether we may have more in common than we admit. The Fantastical Feasts invite viewers to reflect on the nature of society, our relationship and responsibility to the creatures we share the planet with.
The banquet is a historically defining characteristic of culture and conjures up vivid and colorful imagery, plentiful food and wine, exotic recipes, lavish presentations and glorious surroundings. The evolution of formal dining begins in the medieval era, where dining became a sign of social status. A change in society had emerged during the era of the Middles Ages when travel, prompted by the Crusades, led to a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. This change extended to food preparation and presentation resulting in epic food arrangements with exotic colors and flavorings. Again, a boom in exploration and colonization in the Victorian Era yielded an interest in the exotic “other”, a fascination which also extended to animals and the natural world. The wealthy began to fill their houses with costly, splendid goods, their table settings became more elaborate and dining became a pageant in its own right.
This series of whimsical panoramic photographs depict animals reveling around elaborate banquet tables, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, "The Last Supper” and by Pierre Subleyras classic painting, “The Feast in the House of Simon”. The intricate table spreads are carefully arranged, in the style of dutch still life paintings of the 17th century. The series features anthropomorphized creatures great and small; from Elephants enjoying piles of peanuts and large stacks of peanut butter sandwiches to Honeybees swarming miniature trays of nectar flowers, and many other creatures winged, hoofed and found under the sea. Some of the animals are exotic, some we see everyday. Created during extensive travel with goats from a suburb of Sarajevo in Bosnia, lar gibbons from Thailand, starfish from Norway, bison from Indiana USA, and three toed sloths found along the Amazon River in Peru to name just a few.
The series utilizes the icon of the banquet and "Last Supper" to subtly encourage viewers to consider those in the animal kingdom more humanly affording them more rights and status. To see animals humanely sometimes requires us to see them as human-like. By placing animals in a setting typically reserved for humans, it raises the question of whether we may have more in common than we admit. The feasts invite the viewers to reflect on the nature of society, our relationship and responsibility to the creatures we share the planet with.
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print on Fine Art Paper or Canvas
Signed & Numbered on front of print in pen
20” H | edition of 15 | $ 4,000
40” H | edition of 07 | $ 6,000
An edition of images with a 10” H are reserved for limited edition books, auctions, and participant prints, in an edition of 35.
Dimensions refer to Image Size. Prints have an additional 1" to 2” paper white border around the Image Size. The image widths in this collection vary; please refer to each individual image for its specific dimensions.
Prices rise as the editions run out
Prices do not include Matting, Framing, Mounting, or Installation
Prices do not include Shipping - prints are typically shipped rolled on a tube
Artwork is created upon order. Please allow 2-3 weeks for production before shipment. Rush Orders available for an additional fee. If you need a piece by a specific date kindly include it in the notes section of your order.
A small percentage of the artist's profits will be donated to benefit animal conservation
A selection of eight of The Fantastical Feasts are available in 5 × 7 Notecard Set which can be purchased here.
Post Production by Rebecca Manson, The Post Office.
Special Thanks to Ron Haviv, Oliver Solomon, and FUJIFILM USA.
