Every so often we do taco night. It's something I've done since the kids were little and everyone likes it for the most part. Thinking about painting and staging and photographing the food makes it at lot less simple and pleasurable than it used to be. Apparently the photjournaling of food is part of a growing trend. (See link-today's NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/dining/07camera.html?emc=eta1) The difference for me is that interpreting the meal is also part of an intentional structure I've designed for myself to insure that I am writing a little bit and doing a little bit of art every day.
Part of it is looking at what I'm actually eating. Some of the people in the Times story photograph every morsel, including a solitary bite of shredded wheat. As with anything: weddings, spiritual disciplines, hand-washing...anything can become obsessive if we lose sight of what the point is. And just as I got to thinking about simplifying the wedding last night, tonight I got to thinking in terms of simplifying the art, as well.
So instead of last night's rather fussy interpretation of a kitchen still life tonight I saw 2 tacos on a plate. Simple is good. Simpler is better.
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