Saturday, December 14, 2013

Jason Kronenwald


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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