I took a turn around the 2010 London Art Fair a week or so ago. This piece amused me once I’d worked out what was going on. Its an aerial overview of London by the Italian artist David Reimondo. I was initially attracted to the piece because a) it was a London image and b) the tiles had a lovely shiny golden character (more so than you can see in this photo). It was only when I got close that I realised that it was made entirely out of slices of bread. Reimondo had several other pieces on show and they were all made in the same way.
The black colour is achieved by toasting the bread and the white colour is retained because Reimondo has covered that area on each slice with aluminium to prevent the blackening. Once the toasting process is complete, he then covers each slice in a transparent resin which preserves it and makes it shiny and golden hued. I was told that the choice of the bread as material was significant. Reimondo has some more pieces on show at the Albermarle Gallery and they write, “his use of bread combined with contemporary imagery explores the relationship between humanity and technology, body and space, and language and identity.” I’m not sure I buy that, but I do think that Reimondo’s works are interesting and good to look at.
It made me search for more London related bread art. And I was surprised to find some. Gayle Chong Kwan was commissioned by Transport For London’s Platform Art project, called Cockaigne, to create images made out of foodstuff. She photographed her creations and hung the pictures in Southwark station in 2007. This one is called Republic and was part of the project and shows a castle made out of bread.
And to round it off I passed this poster on the tube today. Its a loaf of bread with the Transport For London logo scooped out from it. I’ve just spent half an hour trying to find out who designed it but with no luck. I like the image and would love to know who is behind it. Anybody know?
For those who dont know the logo, here it is:
