A green pepper carved out of wood. [Courtesy of Seiji Kawasaki]
The online world has wowed a set of images showing tasty-looking food which are not actually edible. They are carved wooden pieces delicately designed and colored by a Japanese woodcarver.
A carved wooden potato chip. [Courtesy of Seiji Kawasaki]
Seiji Kawasaki, 33, has become one of the hottest online stars recently for his amazing works such as wooden potato chips, self-portraits, wooden animals and wooden chopstick rests.
"The theme of my carved wooden food is 'emergence of qualia'," Kawasaki wrote on his website. Qualia, a philosophical term, refers to an impression people get instantly when they look at a subject. "The person who looks at my work feels like eating even though he knows that it is actually wood. I think that’s very interesting," he said.
"I think at the same time (that) my work is also a fan art of food. I'm a fan of food." Kawasaki added.
A carved wooden asparagus stands along with real asparagus [Courtesy of Seiji Kawasaki]
His other works are also fascinating. A wooden asparagus stands along real ones and it is hard to tell which one is real except the unpainted stump the carver deliberately left at the bottom.
A carved wooden shrimp. [Courtesy of Seiji Kawasaki]
A mouth-watering cooked shrimp is also praised by online users. It looks as if it's just served onto a dish from a hot frying pan, but Kawasaki said it's made of wood, showing the bottom side of the shrimp.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
