14 Feb A Presidential Portrait in Cupcakes
Portrait of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln in Cupcakes Click image for larger view.
Fridays are supposed to be light days with anticipation of the upcoming weekend filling workers heads worldwide. Yesterday, was anything but as our anticipation was redirected to the cupcake portraits being constructed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, my home-away-from-home every weekday. Zilly Rosen and her group had prepared 5900 vanilla cupcakes and were carefully placing them in just the right places to reveal a duo portrait of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln –a combo St. Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day homage (that’s the word we use in art museums for this kind of thing).
The process was being broadcast live over the Net with thousands remotely watching. (As the portrait nears completion today you can still view it live.) I got the chance to see it first hand as the faces slowly were revealed. When you looked at the work directly it was hard to see Obama’s and Lincoln’s faces. However, looking through my camera viewfinder, the smaller image reduced the size of the “pixel/cupcakes” and the images became crystal clear.
The family’s heading out later today to see the final portrait and, at about 5 pm EST, we’ll all get to sample a bit of Presidential history. Ummm, cupcakes. My ten year old can’t wait.
Update: I have uploaded my best photographs of the installation and “de-installation” (i.e. eating) of this Presidential portrait to my flickr photostream.
Howard
Posted at 08:37h, 14 FebruarySweet! (Can I borrow a photo or two for my Lincoln blog?)
Nina
Posted at 09:58h, 14 FebruaryThanks so much for sharing this. May I send this to a few friends around the world (with credits, of course) to prove that Americans are good crazy?
Jeff
Posted at 10:48h, 14 FebruaryFeel free (with attribution, thx), Howard. And of course, Nina. The net and these cupcakes are free.
Noah Wolfe
Posted at 00:04h, 23 AprilWhat a fantastic exhibit! Very cool.