Spotlight Artist

Denise Stewart-Sanabria

South
Artist profile photo

Garden Party Disagreement

Statues, flowers, and pastries on a reflective surface with a lush landscape background.

oil on linen

Patisserie at the Bird Park

Elegant still life with wrapped gifts, a white animal statue, and bright greenery on a patterned floor.

oil on canvas

The Urgency of Nothing

Colorful pastries and calla lilies on reflective surface, grayscale classical landscape in background.

oil on linen

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

My paintings are anthropomorphized Epicurean dramas staged across time and cultures. Traumatized baked goods and produce interact with random commercial tchochkes and props in staged interiors or edible landscapes. Backdrops are sourced from 400 years of wallpaper, fabric, painting, and graphic design.

I really want to know how Chattanooga Moon Pies would be received next to macarons at the Court of Versailles. What would a UFO want to beam up from this planet into their spaceship if they were hungry? How can I make ceramic animals eat the gastronomical display in which I’ve placed them?

I play with the staging until the objects themselves tell me exactly what they want to be doing.

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