A-listers are known for their wasteful lifestyles but artist Jason
Mecier uses their household rubbish to make their portraits.
The San Francisco talent asks the celebrities to donate their waste
then meticulously crafts it into a collage of their face.
For full story and pictures:
The Scissor Sisters, Nancy Sinatra, Pink, The B52’s, Anna Nicole Smith
and Sharon Stone are among many of the stars who have emptied their
bins onto Jason’s canvas.
“I make the celebrity’s image from their own household junk,” said
Jason.
“I use things like Paris Hilton’s old broken sunglasses or Pamela
Anderson’s gum wrappers and make their portraits from that.
“Paris Hilton sent me an autographed picture from prison to work with
and I was given a bag full of Pamela Anderson’s dirty clothes.
“Ana from the Scissor Sisters sent me a bunch of backstage passes,
some vitamins, mini cocktail bottles and rubbish like that.
“The designer Zaldy sent me a bunch of fabric scraps and sequins
from their outfits and Anna Nicole Smith gave me a tissue with her
lipstick kiss on it.”
Jason began collage as a child with macaroni pictures in his Grandma’s
kitchen and rapidly progressed to exclusive mosaics made from A-list
debris. They take days of hard labour to create and sell for £1,000 to
£15,000 per piece.
He also uses organic waste and some of his works are edible although
Jason wouldn’t advise it.
“The first edible piece I did was of Drew Barrymore,” said Jason.
“I did it for the cover of my friend’s magazine. I used every kind of
chicken product I could find. Mc Donald’s, chicken nuggets and chicken
chow mien.”
“It was supposed to be edible, but looked too disgusting and I’m sure
me handling it all for hours wasn’t exactly appetising,” he added.
The self-taught artist uses anything he can get his hands on for his
three dimensional art – from clocks to make-up and cigarette lighters
to doughnuts.
“I’ve tried a lot of weird things,” said Jason, 40, who is inspired by
pop culture and trailer park kitsch.
“Toothbrushes, press on nails, noodles, nuts, popcorn, dog food, fried
foods, meat produce, marshmallows, pie, pizza, tacos, watermelon
lasagne, uh….everything,” he trailed off.
“But these days I prefer to use things that can be glued down.”
His muses include Martha Stewart, Pamela Anderson, the Spice Girls,
the Olsen twins, Christina Aguilera and Demi Moore and he tries to
match the materials to the personality or image of his subject.
“I once made Condoleezza Rice out of rice and Jerry Seinfeld from
sugary breakfast cereals because he loves to eat them,” he said.
US magazine ‘Radar’ commissioned Jason to make a spread of celebrities
made from their food weaknesses.
“I think some people might have thought there were photoshop images
but they were completely real,” he said.
“I made Martina Navratilova out of pie and Tony hawk out of pizza.”
Jason has also done the Spice Girls more than once:
“I was hired to do the Spice Girls’ tour poster for their show here in
San Fran,” he said.
“That was made out of candy. Then I did Scary Spice’s portrait and she
bought it from me afterwards.
“I heard she put it in some rock n roll museum in London,” he added.
Using perishables can cause some problems with hygiene. Years ago when
Jason was on an “I hate Demi Moore tirade” he made her face from dog
food, which got infested with maggots.
“We had to sling it out of the car on the way back from the
exhibition,” said Jason who says he’s changed his mind about Demi.
“I like Demi Moore now,” he said.
“And I won’t use dog food again if I can help it.”
In the future Jason hopes to make: Salt n Peppa from salt and pepper,
Meatloaf from a meatloaf dinner and Fergie from Weight Watchers ready
meals.
He’s also waiting for junk to arrive from Oprah and Marilyn Manson,
Dolly Parton, Hugh Hefner, Judge Judy and Snoop Dogg.
“I also want to make Fabio from “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter,” he
said.
Words by Isla Harvey
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