I am sure many of you have seen pieces of gum lying on the floor while perusing the streets, which were already stepped on and “cemented” into the ground. Have anyone ever thought of drawing on those pieces of gum? Well, British artist Ben Wilson has done just that.
Ben Wilson at work
Wilson began working full-time on these paintings in 2004 and has produces over 10,000 of these works all over the UK and some parts of Europe. To make these paintings, Wilson heats the gum with a small blow torch and then adds lacquer to harden it. He then uses special acrylic paints to create his designs. These paintings can take up to ten hours to produce. I find this to be a very creative idea. By doing this, Wilson has made chewing gum a better sight to see for pedestrians.
After some research on this artist, I discovered that Wilson was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage because of this, which I found to be absurd. Just like graffiti, I guess any art displayed on public property is prohibited. (Graffiti will always be considered as art than vandalism to me.)
This type of art reminded about a previous post when someone blogged about an artist constructing artwork using pieces of gum. Who would have known that chewing gum could have so many purposes? It obviously is not just for keeping your breath minty fresh.
yes, that's gum.
See the gallery of works here.
Wow! I actually really like his work. It takes something that’s really ordinary and unnoticed and makes its extraordinary. What’s even more interesting is that if you zoom in on the individual pieces of gum, it’s like a small canvas or painting on each. Also, in New York, the streets are always covered with the black spots and I never really even noticed them because they have become such a regular sight for me, but surely if I were walking down the street and saw this, I was stop and appreciate the work. It makes the gum even more noticeable, but at least now its colorful and decorative.
That’s really cool actually! I was about to label it as disgusting (which I also felt when reading someone else’s article back in September about using chewed gum) but he uses a blowtorch according to what you said, so that works well.
I find it wrong that he had to be arrested though. This is very creative and not meant to degrade the location in which it is placed. I feel graffiti can be degrading depending on the purpose a person has for putting it somewhere (we discussed this in English class, voiceless people in NYC trying to make themselves be heard by leaving their “mark” on the city property). But despite the argument on the worth of graffiti, this is very interesting and beautiful!
I like how he isn’t really using the gum as a medium, rather as a canvas. I agree with Susan and Praveena though that it is really cool! I like the bright colors, and I think that if I saw them on the sidewalk, I would not want to step on them. It might stop traffic a little, but at the same time I think it would brighten my day.
It is interesting that there seems to be this growing number of artists who find a unique approach. It is not just about painting, or about painting on a very small “canvas,” but there is a new aspect to the way the art interacts with the audience. This is actually a very old idea. There were many artists at the beginning of the 20th Century (100 years ago!) who went to great pains to redefine the meaning of each art form (Music, dance, visual arts, theater were all subject to “redefinitions” of various kinds.) simply put, it has been a long time since “painter” meant just someone who made paintings on canvas that could hang in a museum. It is interesting to see the creative ideas (like this painter, using sidewalk bubblegum as canvas, museum and gallery) that explore new avenues of expression. Of course, I don’t know how he makes a living.