Artful Appetites!
Combining a love for food and cinema, Ana Patankar takes us on a visual a journey filled with puns, humour, and cultural appreciation.
What inspires your unique blend of cinema imagery and foodthemed illustrations?
Love food and Bollywood! Decided to combine both visually with puns, and posted the experiments on Instagram, where they were well received.
How does your background or personal experiences influence your artistic style and subject matter?
I am a hardcore foodie at heart, and I miss the variety and sheer infiniteness of flavours of Indian food from North to South to East to West. My trips to India are more about food, over and above family and friends :). Siddus in the hills of Himachal, Momos in the Tibetan Market in Manali, Tunde Ke Kabab in Lucknow, Butter Chicken in Old Delhi, Misal Puri in Satara, Kachoris in Jaisalmer, Dosai in Chennai, all and everything in Madras Cafe, Mumbai, Kheema Pav in Kyani’s, Mumbai, Gola Bhaat in Nagpur, Fresh fish on the beaches of Cochin, and the list goes on. I also treasure my food experiences around the world; Empanadas in Argentina, Pastel Del Chocolo in Chile, Pasta in Italy, Jajangmyeon (Black Bean Sauce Noodles) from Korea, Eggs Benedict in the UK, and more. My Instagram posts are a good outlet for reliving these varied culinary experiences and my leaps of imagination.
What role do you believe humour plays in spreading messages of positivity and cultural appreciation through art?
I believe that for the majority of people, everyday life is filled with stress, pressure, sadness, tragedy, and grief due to various reasons—personal, social, cultural, and ideological. For the most part, not everyone can make meaningful changes to their lives for the better. In such a scenario, humour, in any form of visual arts, can play a significant role in providing some balance or relief in this uneven race for a better quality of life, or in some cases, just survival.
Your illustrations often feature catchy song references and puns. How do you come up with these witty ideas?
Honestly, I haven't analysed it. It might be how my mind operates. I believe our subconscious is rich with diverse ideas. By shedding societal norms, I explore these possibilities, whether in catchy tunes or humorous twists on tragedies, or imagining public personas in their animal form like envisioning Amitabh Bachchan as a grasshopper.
