Baraka_Guru

One of the best descriptions of art that I've heard is that it is a philosophy of ideas. In this case, we see a cake. When we normally think of cake, we think of food, but we soon think of celebrations or special occasions. In the case of this cake, we have taken it even further. Many viewers will be enraptured by the cake, looking at its colour, form, texture, and they will think several things about those aspects. Shortly after, they might think, Oh, right, this is food. Later still, they might think, But I wouldn't want to eat it. They think this maybe because of the way it looks, rather than what it truly is.

Cakes are primarily (or essentially) for eating. What makes this art is the very idea that it calls the idea of cake into question. It leads us to a discussion of not just this cake but our very concept of what a cake should or should not be, or what a cake should or should not do.


[Edit: I think the cake is incredible, but I would eat it.]

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot