Foodscapes by Carl Warner

“Don’t play with your food,” our parents always said. Well, we’d say it’s ok if you’re doing anything like this with it. Carl Warner is a British artist that has been working in advertising for the past twenty-five years shooting both still life photography and beautiful landscapes for major advertising agencies and clients worldwide.

During the past ten years, he has been slowly building his food photography series known as “Foodscapes”. Using his experience and knowledge of shooting both table-top works (using artificial light in the studio and natural light on-location), he has crafted a technique of shooting small model-made sets using fresh fruit and vegetables to create edible art that appears to be at first glance a real scene, landscape or location.

“My work is compared to that of Giuseppe Arcimboldo who painted portraits of people made out of food back in the 16th Century, but I like to think that applying the process to landscape is merely a progression of that idea,” said Carl on his website.

Carl Warner’s food art is created with fresh fruit and veg

Foodscapes by Carl Warner

His imaginative and edible art often creates fantastical landscapes

Foodscapes by Carl Warner

At the start of 2008, his food art became known globally through the press and the internet through viral emails and blogs of the work. This recognition has lead to major publishing and licensing deals as well as appearances on TV and radio shows not to mention the hundreds of magazines and internet articles about him and his unique artworks.

Carl has now begun to take his landscape art into the realm of the moving image using live-action and stop motion techniques for both television and internet advertising campaigns as well as lending his creative ideas for a pilot of a children’s animation series. He’s also applied his photography techniques to a similar series called “Bodyscapes”, using the human form to create curving dunes and mountainous landscapes.

Carl’s background is in food photography but he also has an eye for Surrealist art

Foodscapes by Carl Warner

Carl also explained how the works have been used for a great cause as well: “The work has been used to promote healthy eating by nutritionists and dietitians, working in schools, health centers, and childhood obesity clinics. They have been printed on walls as murals in children’s hospitals to encourage appetite and well-being, and as educational tools to inform people about healthy eating, food culture, and nutritional literacy.”