ARTIST FORMS PLAYFUL CHARACTERS WITH EVERYDAY HOUSEHOLD ITEMS AND VEGETABLES

For Russian-born visual artist Helga Stentzel, there is much more to various of food products and other household objects. Stentzel brings each product’s hidden personality to life with her creative and yet funny art. 

Her new series of art is titled Household Surrealism and gives a a glimpse into her creative mind. The London-based artist makes use of clothing, kitchen utensils, books, bread, vegetables and more to create a cast of colorful characters and silly scenes. 

Stentzel has the talent to turn pretty much any material and object into something new ranging from an adorable puppy made from a head of lettuce to a horse composed of laundry on a clothesline. 

Before photographing her scene, she first sets up the chosen objects into the desired shape and pose. To add some extra personality to it, she sometimes adds hand-drawn illustrations such as eyes and mouths. In other works, the artist uses little pieces of paper and carefully chosen ingredients to create the illusion of facial features.

“My inspiration comes from day-to-day activities and also from staring at things for longer than socially acceptable. I can spend ages examining a slice of bread in a restaurant, for instance, to the annoyance of my family and friends. 

“I also carry around a thick notebook where I jot down my ideas. Not all of them get properly photographed and retouched, but I really enjoy browsing them from time to time—it's like a bank of inspiration.”