A Feast for Your Eyes

Amanda Bhalla Wilkes and Fiona Mackay of Bhalla Munro—an art advisory based in New York and Los Angeles—return to us just in time for the holidays to spotlight five contemporary works that reimagine the centuries-old tradition of the sumptuous still life. Long tied to ritual, symbolism, and the fleeting nature of food, the genre becomes a catalyst here for fresh conceptual and cultural inquiry. In these artists’ hands, food is more than subject matter: it becomes a lens for exploring memory, identity, desire, and the layered stories that shape how we gather and feast.

Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)
Cakes (1963) Oil on Canvas

Wayne Thiebaud’s textured brushstrokes and vibrant colors turn familiar sweet treats into objects of desire and nostalgia. The thick application of paint mimics the texture of icing, creating a unique visual appeal. By isolating the cakes against a minimal background, Thiebaud invites viewers to savor the beauty and pleasure of the ordinary. When asked on CBS Sunday Morning how he’d like viewers to react to his paintings, Thiebaud  said: “I’d like for them to laugh a little. If we don’t have a sense of humour, we lack a sense of perspective”.

Dominique Fung (b. 1987)
Banquet Menu II, 2025, oil on canvas

Dominique Fung reimagines the still life as a window into memory, heritage, and cultural identity. Her detailed depictions of fruits, vegetables, and pantry items layer domestic ritual with reflections on time, ecology, and social meaning. Fung’s work encourages viewers to see food not just as sustenance but as story-rich objects connecting past and present.

Anna Weyant (b. 1995)
Buffet, 2020, oil on canvas

Anna Weyant’s Buffet transforms the table into a stage of quiet tension. The porcelain-tinged scene feels tender, uncanny, and full of the pauses that surround a feast just before it begins.

Genesis Belanger
A Fortress of Order and Generosity, 2020, Stoneware, porcelain, Sunbrella covered plywood, powder coated steel

“Genesis Belanger’s A Fortress of Order and Generosity builds a domestic universe where objects stand in for feelings — poised and quietly charged. The composition holds a tension between comfort and control, revealing how much intention lives inside a single table setting. In this moment of shared meals, her work invites us to consider what we offer, what we hold back, and the intimacy in between.

Meret Oppenheim
My Nurse, 1936/67, metal plate, shoes, string, and paper

“In My Nurse, Meret Oppenheim reshapes the Surrealist still life into a charged commentary on gender and desire. The trussed white pumps — part fetish object, part stand-in for the rituals of domestic service — expose how femininity was consumed and contested long before these conversations moved into the mainstream. Viewed today, the work feels startlingly current: a reminder that the table is never a neutral space.

Kathleen Ryan
Pleasures Known, 2019, semi precious stones, acrylic, glass, steel and stainless steel pins, polystyrene, wood and steel tools, fishing rods, steel trailer, rubber tires

“Pleasures Known showcases Kathleen Ryan’s meticulous alchemy — rotting fruit reconstructed from quartz, agate, jasper, and glass beads. What reads as decadence from afar becomes, up close, a study in labor, scarcity, and the surprising politics of materials. Placed at the table, the work reframes the feast itself: luxury and waste, beauty and breakdown, all built from the same glittering parts