Somehow I can’t imagine Abe Lincoln or Barack Obama saying, “Bite me,” but you could have done exactly that if you’d been in Washington last evening.
As part of a presidential celebration, noted pastry artist Zilly Rosen created a double portrait of the two presidents at the Smithsonian American Art Museum made of some 5,600 cupcakes. They were cream-filled and topped with fondant and the public was invited to “de-install” the exhibit after its day-long display. Lincoln was gobbled up first; Obama’s face was still largely untouched an hour after Honest Abe’s belonged to the ages (and the satisfied stomachs of museum-goers).
Rosen, from Buffalo, has experience cupcaking President Obama. On Election Day she created a cupcake portrait of him at his Buffalo headquarters for the volunteers to enjoy. That one had “only” 1,240 cupcakes.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I guess it might be kind of hard for me to work up the nerve to eat The Face Of A Sitting President. Maybe a piece of the hair? Maybe a shirt collar? No way could I eat the eye. I don’t like that popping sound…
Eww, Jenni. How about, “Mr. President, may I have your ear?”
Actually I could imagine Pres. Obama saying that, but he really oughtn’t to!
Lincoln, not so much. This is fabulous to look at, but I just can’t see how they constructed the whole thing without cracking up: “OK, this cupcake is the President’s left nostril”. 
I hope they’ve kept good photos of this there—by the time I get to the Smithsonian, if there’s any left of him, the President will not be very fresh!
Thanks, ella!
MusEditions’s last blog post..I don’t care!
Excellent point, Muse. Hee! And how many cupcakes did she need just for the ears??
I can imagine him saying it in his private life too, but not when he’s being all presidential and Hopey.
I’ve moved deeper into the digital world than I realized. I took one look at the enlarged photo and thought, “I could do that!” All you’d need to do is blow up a digital photo so the pixel were obvious, chart them and assemble it with the cupcakes corresponding to the pixels. I may give this a try for Mom’s 91st birthday!
Shore, you clever thing. That’s exactly how she did it. 1 cupcake=1 pixel. But you do have to be far away for it to look like what it should, so minis are an excellent idea. You could practice with jelly beans or M & M’s.
And when or if you do, please photograph it. I created a Flickr account for readers’ photos but haven’t had time to really think through the implementation/organization. I don’t have the technology to do what I’d most like to do, but I’m still thinking. And thinking…
Go for it, girlfriend!
Hmmmm… I do think I’d make arrangement to share all those cupcakes with the nearby nursing homes and such, though! That would take quite a number of cupcakes. Maybe mini-cupcakes…
hee hee … bite me … hee hee …
Careful of ‘copyright infringement’ using other’s ‘photos’ you all … Seriously.
It’s all the rage with ‘legal eagles’ at the moment vis a vis Frank Shepard Fairey’s ‘unauthorized’ use – of a non-notworthy Associated Press photog’s image of Obama – to create his very evocative graphic poster. It is very much a ‘gray’ area in the art world. ie. When does ‘inspiration’ end and/or ‘copying’ begin?
On the other hand, if the work is ‘ingested’, what diff? There’s no evidence!!!
That AP kerfuffle is ludicrous. It’s right up there with Facebook trying to claim copyright of anything people post on the site. Technically, Obama owns the rights to his own likeness so maybe AP should get over itself.
Good point about the evidence, my friend. The Great Cupcake Caper!