Oil on paper

textures made by hand with oil colours scratched on paper. Depending on the type of paper and the instrument used to scratch, it’s possible to create different surfaces to scan and use digitally to give texture and therefore enhance the illustration.

Federica Buglioni

founder of the association Bambini in cucina (Children in the kitchen) which was established to promote the emotional and educational value of sharing the kitchen with children.

Collana PINO

dedicated to the observation of what surrounds us, in order to bring us closer to the pleasure of the discovery and the beauty of nature. A practical collection which teaches us to look, analyse and experiment in order to understand and to learn.

Creative Confession

one of the most important contributions that Paul Klee (1879-1940) developed during the teaching activities he undertook at Weimar’s Bauhaus school, under the direction of Walter Gropius between 1921 and 1922.

Myth of Zeuxis and Parrhasius

as told by Pliny the Elder in the 35th Book of The Natural History, regarding the competition between the Greek painters Zeuxis and Parrhasius. “Parrhasius, it is said, entered into a pictorial contest with Zeuxis, who represented some grapes, painted so naturally that the birds flew towards the spot where the picture was exhibited. Parrhasius, on the other hand, exhibited a curtain, drawn with such singular truthfulness, that Zeuxis, elated with the judgment which had been passed upon his work by the birds, haughtily demanded that the curtain should be drawn aside to let the picture be seen. Upon finding his mistake, with a great degree of ingenuous candour he admitted that he had been surpassed, for that whereas he himself had only deceived the birds, Parrhasius had deceived him, an artist”.

Museo della Frutta

Museum which houses a collection of over a thousand artificial fruits «artificial plastic fruit» modelled by Francesco Garnier Valletti in the second half of the nineteenth century.

2019 • Topipittori

NATURALISTS IN THE KITCHEN

2019 • Topipittori

NATURALISTS IN THE KITCHEN

Guide for little scientists and good eaters.

TECHNIQUE Oil on paper¹ / Digital

AUTHOR Federica Buglioni²

EXHIBITION Participation in the exhibition Natura in tutti i sensi della series PINO³ at Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Roma)

FOREIGN EDITIONS Oceano Travesia – Mexico

Naturalisti in Cucina (Naturalists in the Kitchen) is an illustrated guide designed to help explore our kitchens through new eyes. A magnifying glass to discover seeds, vegetables, skins and pulp, to study the anatomy, to learn how to observe and therefore become more aware.

«Art does not reproduce what is visible, instead it makes it visible», wrote Paul Klee in Creative Confession⁴.

For a long time, illustration was relegated to the function of narrating reality, the artistic mimesis was its primary function. Since ancient times, as told in the famous myth of Zeuxis and Parrhasius⁵, the exact reproduction of reality was an obsession. Then, thanks to the arrival of the photograph, we are now free to find alternative solutions to narrate the world.

«I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint and I paint what I do not wish to photograph», wrote Man Ray.

There are lots of apples:
1. The Apple of Enzo Mari
2. Snow White’s poisoned apple
3. Magritte’s apples
4. The images of apples on Google Images
5. All the different reproductions of apples in Turin’s Museo della Frutta⁶
6. The apple I buy from the market
The image of the apple I have in my mind when I draw an apple.

The illustrations in this book were born from a dialogue, a comparison, a compromise which came in response to a fundamental question which takes us to the deepest origins of representation using images: if I want to narrate reality, do I draw The Apple or That Apple?

Not all leaves are the same. In nature, everything has a purpose, a specific sense and form, the image narrates its mechanisms, how it functions and its indispensable organization for life.