The art world is full to bursting with scammers and bullshit merchants, but artist Jason Mecier has found a niche that’s unusual enough to show some real creativity: he creates portraits of the rich and famous out of miscellaneous junk associated with them. (You can see a whole series of examples on his MySpace page.) For his portrait of Rosie O’Donnell, Mecier chose to work in the medium of junk food, the stuff responsible for at least fifty kilos or so of Rosie’s physical existence. The artist even managed to work a couple of Ring Dings into the coiffure—Ring Dings being Rosie’s favorite impulse-binge snack food.

The notion of trying to match the subject with the medium is fairly clever, and it’s interesting to imagine how it might work with other celebs. Lindsay’s portrait in cigarette butts and used condoms would be starkly monochromatic, although it might pick up a nice orange-y glow from the Cheetoh dust wafting off of Britney’s portrait down the hall. However, the portraits of Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse would have to incorporate so many needles, razorblades, and miscellanous bodily ejecta that you’d need a velvet rope to keep spectators at least twenty feet back for their own safety. Actually, they’d both be in for a life-threatening but potentially educational experience if someone were to whack Pete and Amy over the head with their own portraits by Jason Mecier.

(Via ONTD.)