Frühstücks - Cerialien als Kunstwerke.
Wer guckt sich schon sein Frühstück so genau an?
Packung aufreissen, in die Schüssel kippen, Milch drauf und essen.
Doch die kleinen Getreideelemente sind schon einen genauen Blick wert.
Ich wette Euer Früstück sieht nicht so aus ;)
Der Fotograf Ernie Button aus Phoenix [Arizona], hat sich dem Thema "en detail" genähert und seinen Fokus in Worte gepackt und seine Erfahrungen in Bilder.
Deine Frühstücksflocken als Pop-Art.
|When I was a youngster, cereal was a luxury item. A brand name cereal was a rarity in our house as they were consistently more expensive. Something like King Vitamin (a popular 70′s cereal) or Cap’n Crunch made forpure breakfast heaven as a child. On a recent trip to the grocery store, there sat King Vitamin next to a new version of Cap’n Crunch, Choco Donuts. Looking at the rest of the cereal aisle, it is clear that breakfast cereal has changed from mere nutrition to sheer entertainment. The cereal aisle has become a cornucopia of vibrantly colored marshmallows that resemble people and objects and characters from movies, as if they were calling out to have their portraits taken, to be the center of attention. However, on the other side of the aisle sits the more ‘adult’ cereals (i.e. fiber, bran). Having lived in Arizona for over 35 years, those cereals upon close inspection resemble some of the shapes and colors and textures of the southwestern desert. I began to construct landscapes that would utilize the natural earth tones of certain cereals. I placed enlarged photographs of actual Arizona skies in the background of the cereal landscapes giving the final image an odd sense of reality. It is apparent that cereal is not just for breakfast anymore. Cereal has evolved into pop culture objects instead of just nutritious corn pops.
I took a few years off from the world of Cerealism to pursue other photography projects. During that time, I experienced some changes in my health that forced me to examine what I was eating and change the foods that I consume. It pushed me to look closely at what nutrition means. I am much more informed and aware of what I consume. Even though I don’t eat cereal that much anymore, I still find breakfast cereal fascinating on a visual level: is it food, is it entertainment, is it nourishment, is it really a dessert or is it all of the above? I don’t want it to seem like I’m picking on cereal but the macro world of cereal provides me with the perfect vehicle to examine and highlight what it is that people eat; from the frosting-like coating that covers the marshmallows to the brightly colored cereals that turn milk a variety of pastel hues other than white.
Meine obligatorischen Fragen wurden gerne beantwortet und gerade als Single-Malt Freund der ich bin, ist das neue Projekt von Herrn Button sehr interessant.*
I have been seriously studying photography as well as showing & sharing my work at galleries / museums/ art spaces for the past 15 years.
What kind of picture do you like most ?
My work tends to gravitate toward the still-life whether it is one that I create or something that appears in the natural world.
Which idols do you have?
In photography, there are so many influences and talented people whose work I respect that it's difficult to name all of them. This is not meant to be a complete list of my photography idols: ParkeHarrison, David Levinthal, Michael Kenna, Richard Misrach, Edward Weston, Lori Nix, Thomas Michael Alleman.
What was your biggest success so far ?
There are so many events on my photography resume that I am very proud of. A couple highlights are winning a Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts early in my career, being named a Hot Shot in 2006 by the Jen Bekman gallery in New York City and being invited to attend the 2009 Lishui Photography Festival in China.
*What are your next plans?
I am a currently putting the finishing touches on a series of images made from the dried remains of single malt Scotch. Some of the images can be found on my website under Vanishing Spirits: The Dried Remains of Single-Malt Scotch. The idea for this project occurred while putting a used Scotch glass into the dishwasher. I noted a film on the bottom of a glass and when I inspected closer, I noted these fine, lacey lines filling the bottom. What I found through some experimentation is that these patterns and images that can be seen are created with the small amount of Single-Malt Scotch left in a glass after most of it has been consumed. The alcohol dries and leaves the sediment in various patterns. It’s a little like snowflakes in that every time the Scotch dries, the glass yields different patterns and results. I have used different colored lights to add 'life' to the bottom of the glass, creating the illusion of landscape, terrestrial or extraterrestrial. Some of the images reference the celestial, as if the image was taken of space; something that the Hubble telescope may have taken or an image taken from space looking down on Earth. The circular images reference a drinking glass, typically circular, and what the consumer might see if they were to look at the bottom of the glass after the scotch has dried. It's a portfolio that I would love to turn into a book.
Do you know Germany ?
I don't. I have not had the good fortune to travel to your beautiful country.
Thank you very much Ernie.
Ein genauer Blick auf das Portfolio von Ernie Button lohnt sich.
Alle Bilder sind mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Künstlers veröffentlicht worden.
