I've cut out (well, ripped really) clippings from magazines, bookmarked (and stalked) fascinating dessert and fashion blogs, traipsed through style files and imbibed all the colour and artistry of the avant garde.
It's amazing! I have so much I want to experiment with, but often feel I fall short, especially technique-wise. So I'm always up for a challenge, and while I don't play around with as much with the structure of cakes (have yet to venture into 3D carved cakes like this one), I do like to experiment with its form (for example, my typography cakes).
Anyways, I recently had the tremendous opportunity to work with Rowena Martinich, an amazing abstract artist whose works can be seen all over the physical and cultural streetscapes of Melbourne. We met at the Design Made Trade exhibition a couple weeks back, and I was immediately drawn to her use of bright, neon, fluorescent colour. It's so vivid and simply demands your attention. We got to talking, one thing led to another, and ta dah! A cupcake collective based on her work, Acid Tempest, for the launch of her exhibition Colour Storm.
I think what was running through my mind was whether I would be able to capture the essence of her work, which is often presented on a huge scale - sometimes several stories high on the side of a building! - and re-present it on my small canvas. And an edible one at that! It certainly takes the idea of art-as-consumption to a literal level; the "art" becomes corporeal.
All right enough talk, here're the pictures!
Chocolate fudge cupcakes dipped in dark chocolate ganache.
Mouthgasm.
Preparing the royal icing for "painting".
I thinned the mixture with water to create a runnier texture.
I thinned the mixture with water to create a runnier texture.
Holy cow, I can't believe how bright the colours were!
I can't believe I managed to source fluoro food gel!
