Red Vines, Candy & Junk Become Celebrity Portraits In The Hands Of Jason Mecier.

above: Kim Kardashian made of Red Vines & Black Licorice twists

Los Angeles born, and now San Francisco-based, mosaic artist Jason Mecier creates portraits of famous personalities with assemblages crafted of candy, food, yarn, dried beans and just plain junk.

In his licorice mosaics, He artfully twists red and black licorice to create uncanny likenesses of some of today's most popular entertainers and images from popular culture.


above: detail of Kim Kardashian made of Red Vines and Black Licorice

In his "junk" portraits, the objects he uses to craft the images include things relevant to the celebrity or personality of his subject, such as the Campbell's soup cans and banana used to compose a portrait of artist Andy Warhol:



Red vines and black licorice:

Mo' Nique:

Michael C. Hall as Dexter:

Elizabeth Berkely in Showgirls:

Taylor Lautner:

Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger from Nightmare on Elm Street:



Other Candy
Taylor Swift made with Good n' Plenty Candies:


Pam Anderson made of various hard candy and candy bars:

details:

Christina Aguilera made of candy:

The Olsen Twins made of candy:

The Spice Girls made of candy:


Some of his impressive "junk" portraits.

Mary Louise Parker (star of HBO's Weeds):

Conan O'Brien:

Tina Fey:

Chelsea Handler:

Donald Trump and detail:

Frida Kahlo and detail:

Singer Pink:

Kathy Najimy:

RuPaul:

President Obama:



To see more, visit Jason's website.

Vik Muniz' Ashtray Recreates Classic Art In Ashes And Cigarette Butts.

If you are at all familiar with the work of artist Vik Muniz, you know it's not unusual for him to use such a bizarre medium as garbage, literally, in his artwork. In this beautiful limited edition ashtray, Muniz takes the classic 1818 painting by Caspar David Friedrich, The Wanderer, and recreates it in ashes and cigarette butts which was then photographed and screened into porcelain.

Caspar David Friedrich's The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818):


Muniz drew the image with ashes and butts, originally in 1999. He then photographed the image and had it screened onto a beautiful porcelain ashtray made at Limoges in Bernardaud, France. The rim of the ashtray is then hand-painted in silver leaf.




Vik Muniz, Untitled ashtray, 1999
Screen printed photograph on Limoges porcelain with hand-painted silver trim
1¾ h. x 7½ x 6½ inches,
Published by the Peter Norton Family Christmas Project.*
Produced in a limited edition

Priced at $650. You can order it by contacting info@artwareeditions.com
Or for $500 (and 20% off right now), you can buy it at the MoMa store here

*Each year since 1988, art collector, software entrepreneur, and MoMA trustee Peter Norton has commissioned an art edition to celebrate the Christmas season and holidays. Created by artists represented in the Nortons’ own collection, and sent as gifts to personal friends and members of the art community, these art objects are designed to be interactive and playful, and to foster engagement with the world of contemporary art.

Fun With Skype Screen Grabs By James Callahan.

I figured it wouldn't be long until we began seeing more and more 'art' made from the latest tech apps and devices. We've already seen a wonderful series of illustrated versions of You Tube's most popular videos and seen how the New Yorker Magazine has featured covers created with an iPhone painting app.



Now, UK advertising art director, illustrator and photographer James Callahan has had some fun with screengrabs of his Skype video chats. His ongoing project which he calls Screengrabography is simply his superimposing of screen grabs from Skype chats over stock photos or art.

They are not super impressively composed or even that inventive (men's heads on women's bodies), but they are fun nevertheless and certainly simple enough for almost anyone to do. The results are good for a chuckle. And may just inspire you to start making a few of your own.





Extra points to James' friends Daisy and Joseph for being such good sports.


See James Callahan's portfolio here which includes some very impressive advertising and design work.