Art Writing Exercise #2
This is a confounding image because the juicy spinach wonton soup is apparently ruined by a cigarette butt. The large open tea egg at the bottom center intrigues me, as does the white powder next to it. In fact, it took a long time for me to diagnose it as a tea egg. Why did someone ruin the soup with the cigarette without even finishing the soup first?
The reason why the picture can spark such vivid scenarios in me must be due to the realism in its style, constructed using watercolor. This is no small feat technically. The white highlight dots scattered on top of the wontons and spinach contribute to the glossy wetness. The ingenious discoloration on some of the yellowed spinach, a sign of decay and imperfection, makes this soup even more convincing. Chopped spring onions and a fractured leaf of cilantro floating in the foreground invites the tongue to touch them. The brown soup almost looks like there is miso in there, as if smoke is spreading nebulously. The runny egg yolk looks good, but the egg white engulfing is looks disgusting. The contrast of allure and disgust is what makes this picture great.
