The “Wheatfields” is a series of wall-mounted sculptures made of Italian spaghetti and Japanese rice and wheat noodles. These minimal compositions are an abstract interpretation of food containers and the disproportionate role they have in modern processed food distribution.

With this body of work I use a common edible item, such as spaghetti, to challenge the viewer’s preconceived notions about food — by transforming its characteristics and its use.

The nature of the pasta is drastically changed up to a point that these “boxes of noodles” have for all intended purposes, lost their recognizable shape, texture and use. In a metaphorical sense, the box containing the spaghetti is thus reborn as a box constructed of spaghetti. The packaging becomes part of the buying experience – food becomes art and entertainment.

Each painted wood structure is covered with a very thin layer of dry spaghetti, glued strand by strand, one placed next to each other, row after row, to create a large three-dimensional linear mosaic. Some of the sculptures are designed as multiple units, created to incorporate the empty wall space between each section into an overall composition.

The variations of colors arise from the different ingredients used in the manufacture of the pasta itself. Spinach spaghetti are green, chili pepper spaghetti are red, and black spaghetti owe their color to squid ink.

In the most recent sculptures, I started adding intersecting structures made of transparent Plexiglas. These dissecting plastic elements are abstract reminders of the spy windows used by many spaghetti manufacturers to exhibit the pasta within each carton container.

Wheatfields LXV

WHEATFIELDS LXV (2007)

Udon and squid ink spaghetti on wood.

18.5″ x 30.5″ x 6″ (47 cm…