Jason Kronewald is an artist. Since 1996, he has created portraits of blonde women using only chewng gum. Confused? Jason is a Canadian. Canadians are incredibly creative. That’s really all you need to know.
Still confused? Then surf on over to GumBlondes and see what you’re missing. Jason has completed 25 portraits since he first began the project 10 years ago. According to his website, Jason only uses two materials in the construction of his portraits–100% chewed bubblegum and plywood for backing.
Two interesting aspects of GumBlondes are 1.) viewing his art in chronological order, one can see Jason’s talent progress and 2.) that there is a tremendous amount of talent, time and energy put into each piece. Frankly his website does not do the artwork justice. I would recommend Jason at least expand the gallery physically to the minimum dimensions of a normal computer screen. Doing so might give site surfers a hint of a notion of an idea of what it takes to create each piece.
Perhaps his best work is not of a blonde- but of the brunette silver screen star Audrey Hepburn.
The Toronto-based artist states that no paints nor dyes are used; that the color is inherent to the gum and that the color mixing occurs inside the mouth during the chwewing process.
Apparently, Jason is not just an artist. He’s also smart. Rather than chewing all that gum himself, he has a dedicated team of chewers to handle th job. Jason also explicitly states that he “prefers the texture of Trident.” Hmm, is there a sponsorship in the offing?
GumBlondes requires Macromedia/Adobe Flash to view. On the .com Dish! site surfin’ scale, it rates an “E” for everybody.
