Buzz
In contemporary times, 'Artists' are driven by innovation (unlike in the past, where their focus was on achieving timeless beauty). Art is an inherently creative endeavor, and artists have consistently demonstrated ingenuity in their choice of materials. Some of these materials may seem unconventional, even when they eventually become mainstream. For centuries, artists working with tempera have used egg yolks to bind pigments in their paintings.
Below are ten materials utilized in innovative, thrilling, and occasionally unsettling ways by modern artists. Exercise caution if you decide to experiment with any of these at home.
10. Blood
While blood might seem like an inexpensive alternative for red paint, it dries to a dark brown hue. Contemporary artist Vincent Castiglia exclusively uses human blood to produce his haunting artworks. One of the most renowned uses of blood in art is Marc Quinn's sculpture of his own head, crafted from his frozen blood. Titled 'Self,' each bust requires 10 pints of blood. Quinn creates a new version every five years to document his aging process.
In 2002, rumors surfaced that the bust had melted after being stored in a freezer unplugged by workers renovating art collector Charles Saatchi’s home. However, this is improbable since the artwork is accompanied by its own refrigeration system. A key theme of the piece is dependency—should the freezer fail, the art would dissolve. Marc Quinn remains unfazed about the artwork’s fate after his death. One certainty is that without Quinn, there will be no more blood, making these portraits significantly more valuable.
9. Toast
While materials like marble and bronze are chosen for their durability, some artists prefer mediums with a fleeting existence. Lennie Payne, for instance, discovered the artistic potential of toast while carving smiley faces into slices for their child. Payne employs a blowtorch to char bread black, then scrapes it to achieve the desired shading. Using multiple slices, they craft portraits of celebrities, reflecting on the transient nature of fame. Some of these toast portraits, destined to mold over time, may not outlast the fame of their subjects.
To extend the lifespan of his toast art, Payne has experimented with preserving slices in resin and coating them with varnish. However, delays in this process once led to mice nibbling away parts of a portrait. As they say, everyone’s a critic…
8. Fruit
Photography’s allure lies in its ability to immortalize fleeting moments. When sensually interacting with fruit, the concern of losing the image vanishes. Stephanie Sarley’s videos and photos have garnered both acclaim and controversy, often clashing with Instagram’s guidelines on sexually suggestive content.
However, challenging societal norms is central to her work. Many view the rules of Instagram and other social platforms as inconsistent. Why is a man’s nipple acceptable while a woman’s is banned? Would replacing a woman’s nipple with a man’s in Photoshop make it permissible? By provocatively engaging with fruit, Sarley tests the limits of acceptability.
7. Cheese
Some individuals can’t resist drenching their food in cheese, and who can blame them—it’s undeniably tasty. But does melting cheese over objects create compelling art? Cosimo Cavallaro believes so. Inspired by an accidental cheese spill on his chair, Cavallaro has adorned everything from sheds to hotel rooms and even dresses with cheese, capturing the chaotic results in photographs.
While he has explored other mediums, such as a contentious chocolate statue of Jesus, cheese remains his true passion. In 2019, to protest the construction of the US-Mexico border wall, Cavallaro built his own wall out of cheese nearby, highlighting its absurdity. “It might sound cheesy,” he quipped, “but just love one another.”
6. Ants
What would you do if you found yourself with 200,000 ants? Most would call an exterminator, but artist Chris Trueman saw it as the perfect opportunity to create a masterpiece. He ordered ants in batches of up to 40,000, euthanized them, and meticulously arranged each one with tweezers to form his envisioned image. His completed work, “Self Portrait with a Gun,” was listed for sale at $35,000.
The ants were euthanized using nail polish remover, but over time, even this relatively humane method began to weigh on the artist. “The project took several years, not due to the labor involved, but because I started feeling guilty about killing the ants and paused for over a year. Eventually, I realized that stopping would render the initial ants’ deaths meaningless, so I decided to continue.” It’s believed the piece was ultimately sold to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
5. Fish Heads
While we often discourage children from playing with their food, we might be stifling a potential career path. For artist Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard, food is the centerpiece of her creative process. Using fish heads, she constructs miniature scenes, positioning them as if they were human characters.
Her fascination with animals, both living and deceased, began in childhood when she dressed her pet rats in doll clothes. However, it wasn’t until her training in the fish industry that she developed a passion for severed fish heads. While her creations may not align with traditional notions of high art, they evoke smiles and provoke thought. As the artist explains:
“Consider the fish in my factories as an example—they wear uniforms, appearing asexual and conveying a universal message. This represents neither the condition of women nor men, but humanity as a whole. The factories symbolize conformity, reflecting the modern era’s production lines and the dehumanization of the common citizen.”
Can fish truly be art? That’s something you’ll have to ponder for yourself.
4. Pencils
While artists have used pencils for centuries, modern creators are employing them in unconventional ways. Rather than simply drawing with pencils, they transform the pencils themselves into art. Some assemble pencils into large-scale installations, while others carve intricate miniatures into the graphite cores, crafting tiny masterpieces.
Salavat Fidai is renowned for his exceptional precision, crafting intricate miniatures with a steady hand. Using a sharp blade, he carves the delicate graphite cores of pencils, recreating everything from iconic global landmarks to Game of Thrones swords and astronauts. While his skill demands precision, viewers need keen eyes to appreciate the details, as some pieces measure less than 0.5 mm across.
3. Poop
“Mark is Mark,” KATSU stated. “He’s a mutation, a grotesque figure idolized by many… He deserves mockery… I want to express my beliefs.” Through a series of fecal portraits depicting Silicon Valley giants, KATSU makes his views unmistakably clear, even if they aren’t always visually appealing.
2. Copper Sulfate
In 2006, artist Roger Hiorns utilized basic high school chemistry to produce remarkable art. Many students recognize copper sulfate from experiments where a blue crystal grows in a saturated solution. Hiorns applied this principle to a BMW engine, transforming the metal into a shimmering cluster of deep blue crystals.
Hiorns, however, sought a grander scale for his next project. He flooded an entire British apartment with 90,000 liters of copper sulfate solution. After allowing the mixture to react for a month, he drained it, revealing a home transformed into a stunning blue geode. When the artwork was donated to a charity, significant effort was required to extract the apartment from the building without damaging the art or neighboring properties.
1. Pennies
Abraham Lincoln’s face is one of the most iconic in the United States, appearing on the one-cent coin found in nearly every handful of change. Richard Schlatter aimed to create a massive version of this familiar image. Using over 24,000 pennies, he crafted a portrait of Lincoln measuring 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide.
Schlatter’s inspiration came while counting pennies, noticing the varying shades of each coin. Depending on their handling, pennies range from bright copper to nearly black, with countless shades in between. He used these variations to construct his portrait of Lincoln, ensuring each year from 1909 to 2017—the period Lincoln has appeared on the penny—was represented by at least one coin.
The project proved to be a worthwhile investment for the artist. Spending approximately $245 on pennies, Schlatter won an art prize worth $200,000.
