You all know I have a special place in my heart for food art. Any non-traditional mediums used to create images and installations are just breathtaking. Ever since seeing a speed painting video utilizing ketchup and french fries, I've been hooked. It was something I've never seen before and wouldn't think to use as medium. Now I seek artists who use these non-traditional mediums such as
Andres Amador. Remember him? The sand artist. If not, check out some of our earlier posts. It's definitely worth your time. Another non-traditional artist is Japanese painter, sculpture, artist extraordinaire
Motoi Yamamoto. He creates his grand-scale masterpieces entirely out of salt. That's right, ordinary table salt. Can you imagine the time and patience it takes to construct anything using only salt? Let's not forget a steady hand.
Every artist has a reason why they choose a specific medium,
canvas, etc. Yamamoto states salt holds a big importance in Japanese
culture. It's said that if you sprinkle salt at a funeral, it would ward
off evil. Along with salt and it's meaning, he uses patterns to symbolize eternity. After his sister passed away, he began creating these complex
pieces out of salt. These reflect his grief and how he feels. Art is all feeling. It's created to stir emotions. It's beautiful, intricate, detailed, unexplainable.
As you can imagine, these labyrinths can take weeks to finish. Yamamoto starts his installations at one end of a room and works his way to the door. This is a clever way to work so he doesn't mess up the image he has already created. The amount of salt used can be upwards to over 2000 pounds. After his installations, the salt is recycled into the ocean. Art is a movement. It should make a statement and have a purpose. The next time you eat, look at your food and rethink it. How can you utilize it and produce something talk-worthy out of it? Maybe you can start with salt. Don't forget to hold the pepper!
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