Carl Warner’s Scrumptious Foodscapes

Post by R.M. team, photography by Lin Vitali.

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Carl Warner, Chocolate Train. Image by Lin Vitali

Catch Carl Warner’s Chocolate Train

Enticed by the idea of seeing a chocolate train, we headed out to St Pancras International, the new home of Eurostar, to investigate the foodscapes by artist Carl Warner exhibited on the first level of the station on 14th of October to coincide with the launch of his new book. The book features Carl Warner's food landscapes.

Whether your calling was the Eurostar or simply chocolate, you were in for a treat! An amazing and exhibition of more than ten scrumptious foodscapes was displayed in a public space at the train station.

Carl Warner's technique

Food is assembled on the tabletop, compositions are built in layers, and once the landscape is composed and lit it is then photographed. The process to make them takes anything from a day to five days, depending on the size and complexity of the scene. Carl gave us an example of how something like the London Skyline was done in about 4 days, while Fishscape was all done in a single day.

"It had to be because of the smell and in order to keep it fit to work with the fresh fish," Carl explains, "It had to all be done in a day with six people working on it to make it happen."

The compositions are built in Warner’s London studio near the Borough Market

The Foodscapes - Broccoli Forest

When you look at Carl Warner’s still life Giuseppe Arcimboldo comes to mind. The scenes are made entirely from food. One of my favourites is the Broccoli Forest with a sugar waterfall set in a bread loaf backed by cauliflower clouds.

The Foodscapes - The Salmon Seat

Sea made of pink salmon strips with a green pea pod boat, potatoes for rocks, parsley for seaweed and dill leaning in like trees was another one of my favourite pieces exhibited that day. That is possibly because orange is my favourite colour and I have smoked salmon for breakfast on a regular basis, not to mention my ongoing desire to add dill into every dish I make. The Salmon Sea truly looks delicious.

The Foodscapes - Celery Forest

I also like the strawberry, banana, apple and garlic fruit balloons, the celery forest (- my guinea pig would have had a field day on that set!).

The Foodscapes - Garlicshire

Garlicshire - the perfect garlic village with garlic huts set in the purple moonlight. That’s one village that will never see a vampire!

Carl Warner's foodscapes - the Tuscan series

Couldn’t help but notice the Tuscan series. In Warner’s world the size of one tortellini would match the size of my D&G Keyhole Shoulder Bag, and the gigantic almonds on display in Warner’s Tuscan Market is certainly a tease for nut lovers. The Italian inspired Tuscan Landscape and Tuscan Kitchen are also very intriguing and contain nothing that shouldn’t be on my plate. The lasagne cart, fields of pasta, a pine nut wall, mozzarella clouds, trees of peppers and chillies and the Parmesan village – delish!

Carl Warner’s London Skyline

One of my personal favourite food pictures from Carl Warner is the London Skyline. In this picture London Bridge is set on pineapple foundations, the London Eye capsules are replaced by gorgeous red cherries, The House of Parliament and Big Ben are made from asparagus with a sour slice of lemon for the face of the clock, and St Paul’s Cathedral made using watermelon.

Carl Warner’s Chocolate Express

Here is a chocolate train model Carl Warner exhibited at St Pancras Train station in London alongside his foodscapes. The train model gives a good idea of how intricate Carl’s food compositions really are to get those stunning food pictures. Pay attention to the last carriage topped with white chocolate! Mmm...

Carl Warner Food Landscape Exhibition at St Pancras Train Station, London

Carl Warner is an outstanding artist capturing all kinds of food in a series of still lifes. With Warner’s foodscapes having started about 10 years ago, there is a decade’s worth of work to share, which he does in his latest book entitled Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes, out now.

Video of Carl Warner's Foodscapes