Art Inspired By The Blind Chocolate Tasting #4

Guest Artist Ruta Matulevicuite's Artwork Inspired by the Blind Chocolate Tasting

Jul 3, 2022

If you are new or have landed on Tarantula: Authors and Art for the very first time, welcome to the art by our guest artist Ruta Matulevicuite who joined us for our birthday celebration and created art inspired by our first podcast The Transformational Power Of Chocolate. If a friend forwarded you this article, double welcome; if you like it, share it or why not subscribe?

To listen to the podcast that inspired Ruta’s art click here. The chocolate was generously donated to us for this experiment by Taman Chocolates.

Ever since I was little I created naturally. In fact, it was impossible for me to sit around without drawing, writing, playing music, sewing dresses for my dolls, or making them houses. Once I made a cardboard cottage for my small Bratz doll named Sasha. The cottage had a balcony with opening doors and curtains. There were paintings hanging in every room, the tiny toilet seat could be opened and the shower had a miniature shower head.

I was creating spontaneously even during my art studies. I tried to search for academic references to justify such a natural approach, but only after graduating I found what such an approach really meant. My creative flow would only stop when I would find myself stuck in life or not being able to understand some processes happening inside me.

The chocolate tasting inspired me to think about ways to open up individual creativity. For those finding themselves stuck in their head or not being able to access the natural process, the tastes of the highest quality chocolate can bring up significant memories, images, and feelings that can create a foundation for a work of art.

Here are the official notes from Sanja on this chocolate, revealed to us in our second session:

SAMPLE No. 3 by Taman Chocolates

BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, INDONESIA - RANSIKI - WEST PAPUA, Single Cooperative Cacao

Chocolate made of beans grown and harvested by the cooperative Eiber Suth in the area of West Papua’s Arfak Mountains, home to Vogelkop Superb, a newly discovered bird of paradise species.

The velvety-textured chocolate brings out a range of aromas and flavors, from mild fruit acids to the deep sweetness of the dark fruits with a pleasant bitterness at the end.

The first chocolate sample that I tried brought me visuals of deep red berries and a powerful ocean. In fact, the feeling of water and fluidity was present when tasting all three samples.

In the simplest way possible without much thinking, I drew three small circles on a sheet of paper and made one of them dark to contrast everything around it to represent the sudden emergence of deep and complex feelings mirroring the taste of chocolate.

SAMPLE No. 1

BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, PHILLIPINES - MANA - DAVAO, Special Selection Cacao

Chocolate produced from the MANA cacao, a special selection of cocoa beans selected by the Auro Organization from the Davao region in the Philippines is considered one of the best cacao growing regions in the world.

MANA Chocolate brings a well balanced flavor profile of dried fruits, rum, caramel, raspberries, chokeberry and tobacco. It has a mild and creamy mouthfeel with a medium long aftertaste of a pleasant and mild citrus bitterness

Chocolate sample number one brought up images of birds, a river, and a sky that was sweetly fresh. Can the sky be sweet or fresh? I think so because the feeling is still strong in my memory.

**The Accacia, oil painting by Ruta Matulevicuite**

SAMPLE No. 2

BEAN-TO-BAR CRAFT CHOCOLATE, MADAGASCAR - ANTSAMALA - SAMBIRANO, Single Plantation Cacao

Organic cacao beans with a unique flavor profile, unlike typical Malagasy cacao, come from the Antsamala plantation, which is one of the eight plantations of the Mava Estate, in the Sambirano valley.

On nose, the chocolate opens with floral aromas with nuances of prunes and cacao gradually developing flavors of tropical fruit, peach, fennel, and pink peppercorn. It has a rather fast melt and a delicate bitterness in the aftertaste.

Wanting to combine all three experiences, I then tasted the chocolate sample number two and surprisingly felt resistance. My body became tense and my mind - angry. I still do not know what was that sudden anger, but it certainly was unexpected and very interesting. An image of a crowd of running people appeared in my mind. After a few moments refreshing ice started melting on the tense muscles, something unlocked and there came an image of a castle on the hill. I wrote in my notes: “It is a fairy tale.”

The creative intelligence, which creates all of nature exists in each one of us. There is no one person in this world who is not creative. The best way to access this creativity is by expanding consciousness. I do that with the help of Transcendental Meditation which has now become the most important tool in my creative practice. But on the way to that, other ways are present for everyone to choose according to their liking.

Tarantula: Authors And Art would like to thank Ruta Matulevicuite for coming to our party and playing along, as well as to the team at Taman Chocolates for shipping us their bean-to-bar chocolate from Croatia to enable us to do this chocolishes experiment.

If you missed the podcast The Transformative Power of Chocolate and/or the art created by other artists and writers involved, you can visit our archives for some inspiration.

ABOUT TAMAN CHOCOLATES

„Taman” has two meanings in Croatian. The first one means “dark”, you know, just like chocolate. The other meaning doesn't have an English equivalent. The most accurate explanation would be that “taman” describes that liberating intimate sense when something feels just right - not too little, not too much, the right thing in the right moment, everything perfectly aligned. This is the philosophy we follow in our boutique manufactory and this is the exact feeling that we want you to experience when tasting our internationally awarded chocolate products.

For our bean-to-bar chocolates we choose cacao with exciting flavors as well as aromas that we want to preserve and highlight with the least amount of processing. Besides amazing flavors, we want our chocolates to tell a story of where the chosen cacao comes from and of the people who grow it. We use only high quality cacao of controlled origin, which we procure in cooperation with trusted partners to ensure that the cacao is well cultivated, fermented and dried; and that all those involved in the cultivation and processing of cacao are adequately paid for their work.

Tarantula: Authors and Art