Amazing Edible Art Around the World

Andy Warhol would love it! His most famous paintings have long been favorites of contemporary artists to reproduce in a number of extraordinary and unconventional ways and often the artist's tool is candy. The latest creation of Warhol art revisited is on display in London and depicts his famous Marilyn Munroe now created from sugar coated chocolate candy. Newly introduced blue Smarties were used for Marilyn's blue eye shadow.

Although the texture and consistency of candy make it a favorite amongst pop artists there are some other fascinating food substances being used to create art. Architects Byard Dovell White used 5,000 cans of sliced bamboo shoots and stuffed vine leaves to create a can sculpture. The work of art was designed for a design/build competition for charity.

Another innovative team used multiple types of breakfast cereals to create an amazing mosaic of President Barack Obama. Hank Willis Thomas and Ryan Alexiev used Honeycomb, Life and Froot Loops to create the three dimensional image. Thomas is a sculpture who uses his art to deal with contemporary issues like race, identity, history and class as influenced by a consumer culture. He particularly wanted to depict the president.

Tofu, cabbage, ginger, lotus roots, coriander and sweet potatoes were used by artist Duoqi to recreate the famous Vincent Van Gogh self portrait. The unusual creation was displayed at the Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery from 2008 to 2009 as part of an exhibit titled, The Vegetable Museum.

Toast was the sole ingredient in a huge mosaic masterpiece by Ingrid Falk and Gustavo Aguerre. 3,053 slices in shades of white, tan, ochre, beige, rust and black toast were assembled to create an original and truly captivating image of a toaster. The variance of shade in the toast required the artists to precisely toast the pieces to varying degrees.

As stated though, candy is a great art medium and a favorite amongst contemporary sculptors and renderers of famous works. Jean Zaun is no exception. His rendition of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is painted on a white chocolate base which is bordered by a dark chocolate frame and finished with a confectionary glaze to create a stunning replica of the famous portrait.

A candy artistic innovation made from 1,000 M&M candies also captivates while eliciting a smile from its viewers. Ironically the image is a depiction of rap singer Eminem (pronounced m&m). The huge portrait created by candy artist Enrique Ramos weighs eight pounds and measure 40 x 30 inches. It aptly sits amongst a lint portrait of Lady Diana and a gumball portrait of Michael Jackson.