You might want to steal a second glance at Katie Barron’s art. Yes, what you see are retro cakes and mouth-watering desserts. No, they’re not real. You’d be forgiven for thinking so, though, because when it comes to capturing the intricate details that adorn the cakes of yesteryear – wobbly jelly, cocktail umbrellas, bendy straws and all – the Canadian-born artist has quite the knack for it. We caught up for a chinwag with Katie ahead of the launch of her newest art exhibition, Wobble, in Launceston/kanamaluka to chat all things jelly and art.

Tell us a little bit about you and your background in painting. I’ve always been artistic and was lucky to grow up in a household that encouraged creativity. After discovering oil painting on a trip to Australia in 2018, I really quickly fell into a particular style of painting with photorealistic subjects surrounded by black.

After high school, rather than go to university for art, I decided to move to the mountains to rock climb, so my main influences were mostly from tattoo culture and more design-oriented artists. I was in a town that really supported the arts and ended up in a few emerging artist programs that helped me establish my professional practice. Since moving to Tasmania a few years ago, I have been amazed by the opportunities here and continue to grow and expand as an artist.

 

 

 

 

 

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What first drew you to creating photo-realistic oil paintings of food? Before I picked up painting, I used to draw a lot of food; for some reason, I’ve always been drawn to it. I love all things food. Food-shaped erasers, food-themed prints on clothing, and those fake food displays in Japan. Maybe it’s the frequency that food appears in our day-to-day, or the way a familiar meal can bring back warm memories.

What role does nostalgia play in your work? I like to think that I’ve matured as I’ve grown up, but I think I am actually a kid at heart. I think the nostalgia that often features in my work isn’t so much a yearning for another time, but more of a remembrance of a time when life was more playful, simply due to having been a kid. It’s not that the time itself was great or better than now – it’s that the state of being a child is inherently more spontaneous. I seem to remember my childhood really well, and I remember that feeling of opportunity that was held within the little things – the world of possibilities that two dollars held when you’re at the corner store.

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s your process like – are you painting from photographs of food or models of the food itself? When I set out to create a new painting, the first thing I do is create the subject itself. I have a specific vision of the lighting and angle I want things to be at, so to get the best reference images, I photograph everything myself in the studio.

Making the food is always the best part. I feel the most creative at that stage of the process when I’m arranging things and moving the lights around. Sometimes I need to employ a bit of movie magic and swap things out for less edible things to get something that will hold up better in the photography process. Jellies in particular often get set with an excessive amount of gelatine or agar agar to better hold their shape.

Once everything is lit and arranged, I photograph it and create an image to paint from. Often, the final painting reference is a composite of a few images to get the best lighting on each element.

Wobble features a series of paintings depicting jellied delights – where did the idea of the series come from? Jelly was pretty popular in Canada when I was growing up, and we had a few Jello-branded cookbooks kicking around the house that I used to flick through, so I’ve had a fondness for it for a long time. As a painter, jelly is an amazing subject because of its versatility. It’s colourful, it can be transparent or opaque, you can mold it into any shape you want, and you can suspend other ingredients inside it.

I wanted to create a series of paintings that really celebrated jelly for all the reasons that I love it and to explore the interesting history of jelly-making. I also thought jelly would be a great opportunity to collaborate with a chef to create an interactive art experience where visitors to the exhibition opening could actually taste some extremely creative jellies in addition to viewing the paintings.

 

 

 

 

 

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What have you discovered about jelly-making over the process of creating this series? I learnt a lot about different gelling agents and their use in cuisines around the world. I used to think of jelly as a packaged, fruit-flavoured dessert, but in plenty of places, jelly is something entirely different. In many parts of Europe, savoury meat and fish-based jellies called aspics are still commonplace. In Asia, seaweed-based jellies are the norm and are generally vegan.

What’s on the horizon for your art? I am so lucky to have plenty of exciting projects coming up this year. In terms of painting, I’m working on a series of paintings that feature frosting smeared into images and studded with lollies, as well as some cake and frosting sculptures for a solo exhibition at Penny Contemporary in May. I’ve also started spray painting in the past year and am excited to be participating in Launceston’s first street art festival this coming March.

See more of Katie Barron’s art this-a-way.