Wasteful.

ridiculous

Wasteful and ridiculous? Really? They're works of art. Do you think of Dan Flavin as being wasteful of fluorescent lights? The MOMA, the Tate Modern, and countless other museums would disagree with you.

And that Van Gogh wasted paint by piling so much on a single canvas. Gosh darn it, he could've painted a whole wall with that paint!

Cool. I love the textures. Makes me think of monks making their detailed sand mandalas only to have a gust of wind blow it all away. A true meditation in ephemera.

For the first two posters, you could boil the pasta, eat it with the plastic forks, and wash it down with a cup (or 1000) of joe. You people are so boring.

@akay & darcitananda...my sentiments exactly...it's ART people! *sigh*

Totally agree with you, akay. But clearly emedarwash and mandrita are of the jealous, non-creative types who don't appreciate art.

I'm getting really sick of the negative comments that keep punctuating these discussions. If you can't appreciate it, don't dump on it.

I love it.

These are like the gorgeous Easter carpets I saw in Antigua, Guatemala.

Love it! Especially the coffee/tea cup one. What a creative idea!

bkrafi...Oh so someone doesn't 'get' art? sigh all you want, and get over yourself.
Some talent here but used in such a ridiculous and pretentious way. Yes wasteful too.

Wasteful? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. Incredibly cool and beautiful? Also yes.

I'm sure the soldiers and plastic silverware can be washed afterwards and donated. Not sure about the pasta and definitely not the coffee. I think it's pretty impressive.

@ameliepoulin
I'm all for negative comments in a discussion, but only so long as they're constructive. Saying just "Wasteful." is very different from saying, for example, "I get that it's supposed to be art, but I can't get past the wastefulness."

@spottedteacup
There's more than one kind of pretension; immediately dismissing art is just as narrow as unquestioningly accepting it. I just ask that someone takes a moment to consider it past a knee jerk reaction. I think, for example, that darcitananda made a very eloquent point about the similarities to Buddhist mandalas, so it disappoints me to see further comments such as yours ignore that lovely comparison.

Cute, but it sort of reminds me of those grade-school projects for which you had to glue elbo-roni and dry beans to a piece of tagboard.

I'm not sure how these are anymore "wasteful" than any other piece of art in the world..

"I'm not sure how these are anymore "wasteful" than any other piece of art in the world.."

--i totally agree with this. what is wasteful? that its drinkable coffee? that they are usable forks? it's creative, it's art. are childrens' macaroni pictures 'wasteful' and 'ridiculous'? i use potatoes to carve out shapes and use as stamps with my son. is that, too, an empty endeavor?

I always appreciate it when someone creates something out of everyday materials. Esp, when it turns out like this.
I recently saw a work of art at The Met in NYC by El Anatsui called Between Heaven and Earth. The artist used, in part, the aluminum from the top of wine bottles to create a huge beautiful work of textile art. It is stunning. Perhaps worth checking out by some of our fellow AT folks.

I think there are different levels of art, and that these art "rugs" aren't that impressive.

The only one that actually seems to elevate itself to a level of being remarkable or requiring skill is the pasta, which calls back to art projects almost all of us did in grade school. In this way it does communicate on an emotional level in some way. I can understand how AT feels the need to find other stuff as a filler, though. The one pasta rug really isn't good enough to stand on its own.

Part of the issue with rugs is that they aren't a big part of American culture the same way they are in parts of Europe or India, so they don't have an emotional meaning, nor are they a part of our daily lives or culture. This limits the way the installations can communicate to an American audience. Rugs do work, however, as a subject with different textures and patterns, so I can see its appeal.

I think the "wasteful" comment is pretty limited. All the pieces are installations, which means that they are temporary and will be removed, but there's really not that much coffee, pasta, or cutlery being used, and the soldiers could be reused for sure. Compared to how much food is thrown away by restaurants each day these installations are nothing. I think it's worth the waste for whatever statement the pieces are trying to make.

I must have missed the memo on potshots.

I'm thinking of people I know.. children that have empty tummies.. is more explanation still needed?? I highly doubt they saved the food and ate it themselves. They should just get a set of dominoes and re-use them. Make art from nature.

Regardless of the negative comments I think this is incredible, incredibly creative, and inspiring.

I'm all for installations creating an interruption from our normal lives so we can step aside, put down our cell phones and contemplate its purpose... they do get our attention, don't they?
At the same time, I don't understand MOST of them or can formulate a good reason for their existence...

I'll bet most every average American family throws away more pasta in a year than it took to make this one rug. Both are "wasteful" but at least the rug is serving a purpose.

another thought, these works seem like they'd be best appreciated in person, as the photos really don't convey the scale and texture as well as they could, nor the fact that all the "carpets" are part of a "collection".

There really isn't *that* much macaroni in that carpet.

And if we're getting to the point where we're going to be crying about starving children in Africa because someone dared to use dried pasta to make a rug, let's be less hypocritical here - we're all sitting here in front of our comfy computers reading a design blog.

Emedarwash, you could cut off your internet, donate your computer, and feed more "children" than the pasta on the floor could ever do. Using a computer in your local library? Why, what a waste! You should campaign for the money wasted on that library connection and have it be spent on buying food for the poor.

The world is not a simple place. World hunger is not caused by small art projects involving food.

Kaete! Totally agree and well said.

@urbancricket
Well said! (Though I was unaware of the existence of Alfombras).

I just wanted to add that I understand that these are installations, but this format of artwork is also not really friendly to home decor, since you wouldn't actually want to walk on most of them, and some of them you wouldn't be able to hang on a wall.

Hear hear Kaete!

Really cool. I can only imagine the amount of time it took them to come up with the design and get it just right.

Imagine having a pasta rug. Hang it on the wall and use when needed. :)

Just because something is "art" doesn't mean it's not ridiculous or that you can't be critical of it. I don't think this is creative at all. If someone covered a vertical wall in pasta it would be boring.. the fact that it's a "rug" is what makes it so "cool" but most of them are not even usable. I wouldn't be so put off by this post if they didn't keep refering to these pieces as "carpet"

Show me some that's actually DIFFERENT.

P.S. Now that I've just scrolled through the comments, urbancricket has expressed similar thoughts much more eloquently.

@spottedteacup... It’s not about “getting” art. I'm not an art snob in any way, shape or form but art is art. I do know that it doesn’t have to make sense and you don’t even have to like it but the amount of work that went into it can still be appreciated. Don’t get so worked up, it’s just the internet, lol.

These are hilarious! Love them. Clever perspective shift.

wow. i dont know what to say. i am a little creeped. and then also impressed, i dont know..

I thought it was Cap'n Crunch.

That wouldn't be as wasteful - because that stuff really tears up the roof of my mouth.

Oh good gracious. Is it wasteful specifically because it's food? Kaete has expressed my feelings quite well... we are all on computers, paying for internet, visiting a design blog. There are a whole string of things there that would fill a lot more tummies than a few boxes of pasta. Why have a real carpet in your home? you could sell it and feed a family. If you do anything beyond fulfilling your most basic food and shelter needs, you are choosing not to feed a starving child, choosing a luxury.

These are neat... they don't blow my mind, but they are intricate, and a little odd, and I think I would very much enjoy the process of creating one. Discussing art from a perspective of whether or not it is "useful" or "practical" is a bit off the mark, I believe.

Did anyone else imagine how fun it would be to crunch across the pasta "carpet"? Not in a disrespectful way to the artist, but it would be fun. Toy soldiers? ouch!

I could spot that pasta-golden color from a mile away! (I now realize that might be a bad thing!)

Felix Gonzales did a piece much like this. He made a "carpet" of green cubed candies wrapped in plastic that had a sound (sorry, can't remember the onomatopoeia!) printed on them in white. You approach the carpet, look at it, pick up a piece, unwrap the candy and eat it! And all of those candies together was very visually pleasing. I've seen other artists doing "carpets" made of many things, one of my favorite was using spices!

You know, not all art is created equal! Some is crap. (I'm not specifying anything here, just saying!) Also, art is highly subjective. So what's art for me and for you quite likely is not the same. ALSO everyone is entitled to their opinion and to state their opinion, ESPECIALLY about something as subjective as art.

I'd put this into the conceptual art category, for which I have very little use or appreciation. (I was an art major in college, so this is not totally uninformed.) "Wasteful" isn't the first thing that comes to my mind, although using up materials of any kind for something I find as pointless and boring as this could be considered a waste, I suppose.

Clever. I guess.

Functional? Obviously not.

It seems to me like a feeble joke that isn't funny the second time you hear it.

Your mileage may (and probably does) vary.

Cool. I like seeing ordinary things used, their shapes repurposed even if it is 'just art'.