//Doodle Cook or 17 Recipes for Making Your Own Art Work// - Iwona Wojnarowicz
Doodle Cook or 17 Recipes for Making Your Own Art Work - Iwona Wojnarowicz
Hervé Tullet published his first children’s book in 1994. At that point, he gave up the lucrative advertising market and devoted himself completely to illustrating books for the youngest readers. Doodle Cook which has come out this year is the result of this work. It is full of inspiring recipes for making an abstract work of art, served as a delicious dish of the day.
Doodle Cook presents 17 recipes for home-made works of art. On the title page, the author introduces the reader into the secrets of a cookery book, explaining the task beckoning on the pages that follow. Each page has an empty plate waiting to receive the product of the imagination of the young chef. On each card, there are as many tests and trials as possible, and the final effect is ingeniously thought out and constructed. The author encourages the little young artist to try out many different techniques and colours, but the decision how to go about achieving the best possible results always lies with the reader.
Each of the 17 recipes has a different level of difficulty and involves different painting techniques. Simple but humorous information takes the reader step by step to the crowning phase of his efforts. Starting with some simple circles and a handful of colours, progressing through basic geometric shapes, with practice, the child is encouraged to try his or her hand and imagination at ever-changing shapes and higher levels of difficulty.
The book does a brilliant job of introducing children to the world of abstract art, showing them how, by operating with simple shapes, it is possible to create their own compositions, whose form can and should be associated with everyday objects. The book brings out the proximity between the ‘high’ art and everyday life, debunking the myth of art being too complicated for the average person. Progressing through the cards, the boys and girls will develop a certain touch, inventiveness and the ability to think abstractly. Following instructions, five-year olds will be encouraged to paint all kinds of things that otherwise it would have not occurred to them to dream of having a go at – and complete the task withh a genuine enthusiasm, to boot!
Hervé Tullet
Doodle Cook
40 pages, paperback, 345 × 250 mm
Phaidon Press Limited, London 2011
Language: English
ISBN 978-0714862279