From palate to palette

The connection between sight and taste is no secret. But Denver artist Riki Takaoka has harnessed that confluence of the senses in a new way: by painting his favorite foods and posting it on his blog. Titled, aptly enough, Riki’s Food Blog, Takaoka’s site is updated almost daily with everything from quick, monochrome drawings to vibrant portraits of his meals, rendered in a vaguely retro style that blurs the lines between still life, pop art, and sketchpad diary. But the artist is far from a food snob: Along with illustrations of thom kha soup and caramel-fudge tiramisu, Riki’s Food Blog lovingly and lusciously illustrates florets of raw broccoli and a burger from Johnny Rocket’s. Takaoka—whose munchies-inspired masterpieces are available from his Etsy shop—spoke with Decider about his appetizing canvasses.

Decider: Maybe it’s just the nature of your blog, but it seems like you spend a lot of time eating and thinking about food.

Riki Takaoka: Don’t get me wrong—I love to eat. [Laughs.] And I love to cook. But food is more like a hobby for me. I’ve never worked in the food industry at all. Usually I just sit around and think, “Hmm, what food should I paint today?”

D: What were the first foods you drew or painted?

RT: Probably sushi. I really love sushi, especially fatty tuna and salmon roe. And those are up there on my site. But the first drawing I did specifically for the site was of a Jimmy John’s sandwich. I’d never eaten there before; I usually go to Quizno’s and Subway. [Laughs.] I ordered a club, and that thing was just amazingly good. It really impacted me. But also I was bored, and I had my sketchbook next to me.

D: The first entries on your blog are black-and-white sketches, but somewhere along the way you switched to full-color paintings almost exclusively. What brought about the change?

RT: I love opaque watercolors, gouache. It has this kind of ’50s animation look to it. I just love that whole style, and I think it brings out more life in the food. 

D: What are your criteria when choosing a certain food as the subject of a painting?

RT: I go after food that has form. Like, soup is just flat and usually one color. Foods that look really odd work best. It’s all about the shape. And the color is important, too. Sauerkraut and rice look the same when you paint them because they’re they same color. They’re just piles of something. Unless you throw in two sausages next to it, then you know it’s sauerkraut. [Laughs.]

D: You say soup is tough to paint, but one of your recent paintings is of a bowl of thom kha.

RT: I had that soup at a place called J’s Noodles on Federal, and it was just so colorful. It’s this coconut soup with mushrooms and peppers. It really inspired me; I mixed some yellow ochre with some white paint, and it looked exactly like the soup. I want my paintings to be like subliminal messages. I want people to look at them and get hungry. I want painted food to make people want real food. [Laughs.] Food is probably the most attractive thing you could ever paint.