Artist: Jason
Kronenwald
Title: Gum
Blonde XVI
Media: Chewed
gum on plywood backing, sealed with epoxy,
Dimensions:
15.4 x 11 inches
Date: 2005
Biography: Jason Kronenwald grew up in Ancaster,
Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. Currently he lives in Toronto with his wife
Samantha, daughter Sadie and son Milo, making portraits out of chewed bubblegum
called Gum Blondes. Kronenwald has a dedicated team of chewers and prefers the texture
of Trident and Bubblicious.
Statement: "Today’s omnipresent media
unapologetically emphasizes style over substance. Youth, fortune, fame and
excess come before wisdom, integrity, talent, and the truth. The media depicts
the celebrities of today as modern day gods and goddesses to be worshipped and
emulated. As an artist, I feel a need to honor these lip-synching, boob-enhancing idols
in an appropriate manner. The qualities of chewing gum make it a fitting
material to use – sticky, sweet, consumed by kids, cheap, readily available,
artificial, over-packaged, gimmicky, salivated over, chewed up and spit out.
Essentially, gum is produced to be thrown away. In my Gum Blondes series, the message is the medium. My portraits put the focus on the
artificiality, plasticity and disposability of both the medium and the
subject." http://www.flickr.com/photos/wackydoodler/sets/72057594091167129/comments/
How It Connects: This is probably one of the most unique/weird portraits I've ever seen. I chose it because how many people make portraits out of chewed up bubblegum? Just this guy. Its a completely different technique compared to the majority of artists and their techniques.
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