In Good Taste

by Alex Ramos

I am a self-taught artist who specializes in photorealistic still life painting in acrylic. Using small brushes, deliberate color choices, and a great deal of patience, I create highly detailed depictions of food and drink subjects. Still life provides an opportunity to ruminate on everyday objects—things we encounter every day, often without stopping to consider their complexity. I aim to slow the viewer down and invite a deeper engagement with the familiar.

Painting still life has trained me to pay close attention to detail and nuance—particularly the way light interacts with different surfaces and materials. In my food and drink paintings, sight becomes a gateway to other senses. The glisten on the skin of a strawberry or the subtle variations in its red hue can suggest ripeness, texture, and flavor. When I am at my most successful, I hope the viewer experiences a kind of synesthesia, where the act of looking evokes taste and texture—and hunger!

Alongside organic subjects, I am drawn to the manufactured elements that accompany our experiences of food and drink. Glassware, pottery, and labels offer rich visual challenges, from reflections and refractions to overlooked details in design and typography. Glass, in particular, fascinates me for the complex ways it bends and directs light depending on its shape, thickness, contents, and surroundings.

Ultimately, my work is a meditation on the beauty embedded in the everyday. By rendering ordinary objects with a level of precision often mistaken for photography, I hope to encourage viewers to see them—and perhaps their daily routines—in a new light.