Through the ages, artists have created pictures in many different ways - but Johannes Cordes has had sweet success with a very unusual technique. He uses gummy bears as an art medium. From portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Mona Lisa to JFK, the 57-year-old from Meppen, Germany, uses thousands of the gelatinous treats to make his colourful masterpieces. Johannes Cordes has created artwork - including a recreation of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe - using gummy bears.

 

Each portrait takes the artist up to 240 hours to complete. He's used millions of gummy bears so far in his work and gets through around three tons of them a year. A fan of pop art, he has recreated works by Andy Warhol, as well as those done by the masters. Each portrait takes from 100 to 240 hours to complete - and if that was not painstaking enough, Mr Cordes also has to resist the temptation to gorge on the candy.

 

That equates to 200 bags a week, according to website Oddity Central. His version of Warhol's Monroe required 3,200 bears alone. Due to Haribo's limited range of six colours, Mr Cordes has even devised his own technique of coating them in various shades, and preserving them. 

 

What would da Vinci say? It's a gummy bear Mona Lisa! Only perfectly formed gummy snacks will do - anything too big, too small, or slightly deformed will not make the grade, said the artist. And only perfectly formed gummy snacks will do - anything too big, too small, or slightly deformed will not make the grade.

 

Due to Haribo's limited range of six colours, he has even devised his own technique of coating them in various shades, and preserving them. Once in position, each of the rubbery bears is then held in place by a special varnish. The idea for his confectionery creations came about quite by accident.Mr Cordes's big breakthrough came when he was asked to co-exhibit at a 100 Years Of Dali exhibition in 2004.

 

Several years ago, a friend commissioned him to do a painting at the artist's studio in Nuremburg but the picture frame turned out to be too big for the artwork. Mr Cordes had a eureka moment when he noticed an open bag of gummy bags next to the frame and decided to fill it with them instead. He put the finished piece in the window display of his workshop as a joke but word soon spread and his unusual art form was born.

 

His big breakthrough came when he was asked to co-exhibit at a 100 Years Of Dali exhibition in 2004. Solo shows soon followed and eventually caught the attention of confectionery giant Haribo, which itself originated in Bonn in the 1920s. This led to him making a series of portraits of the company's founder, Hans Riegel, and his sons. For Mr Cordes, life really is sweet.

 

Source : Daily Mail

 

 

 

Johannes Cordes’ (geb. 1955) künstlerische Welt sind bunte Gummibärchen. 
Aus den fruchtigen Süßigkeiten gestaltet der aus Norddeutschland stammende Künstler und gelernte Typograph einzigartige Collagen. Die Idee hierzu entstand in seinem damaligen Atelier in Nürnberg. Der Durchbruch gelang Cordes 2004 mit der Teilnahme an der Ausstellung „100 Jahre Salvador Dalí“ im Schloss Bruchsal, bei der er zwei Porträts des großen Surrealisten aus jeweils rund 4.500 Gummibären präsentierte. 
Vorlagen seiner Kunstwerke sind bevorzugt Motive berühmter Pop-Art-Künstler wie Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein oder Andy Warhols „Marilyn“. Neben den Collagen umfasst das Werk von Johannes Cordes auch kleine Objektkästen, die den Betrachter mit feinsinnigem Humor zum Schmunzeln bringen.