Coffee art is a new, non-traditional form of expression by a variety of artists. Take the commercial artist, illustrator, and cake designer Maria A. Aristidou, for example.
Maria uses the medium of coffee to create a variety of portraits, including images of John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, and Albert Einstein to name a few.
In an NPR interview , Maria Aristidou said it all started when she spilled her latte.
“I was working on another commission using watercolors, when all the sudden, I spilled all over the drawing. The accidental spill, the shade of coffee, and how it got absorbed in the paper fascinated me.”
Since her accidental spill, and her fascination with her new discovery, Maria has continued painting entire images out of coffee. She feels that she has more control painting with coffee than with a brown watercolor paint.
Maria’s subjects are mostly related to pop culture, like illustrations of Yoda, Darth Vader, Disney characters, The Beatles , and other iconic figures, according to Open Culture ‘s story on the coffee art by Maria Aristidou.
For example, Maria hand painted her coffee art of Mona Lisa with Greek coffee and Espresso on 40 by 30 cm handmade paper, as shown in the following video in time-lapse motion. Coffee art is not as farfetched as it may seem. In fact, Victor Hugo experimented with the medium in the early 1800s.
The Paris Review wrote the following short excerpt about Victor Hugo’s art.
“Victor Hugo wrote poetry, novels, and drama—more than enough for any mortal—but he also made some four thousand drawings over the course of his life. He was an adept draftsman, even an experimental one: he sometimes drew with his nondominant hand or when looking away from the page. If pen and ink were not available, he had recourse to soot, coal dust, and coffee grounds.”
Using coffee grounds and liquid is another type of medium artists can use to create magnificent pieces, like the images Maria Aristidou has created. Her knowledge and application of the unlikely medium used to create coffee art is inspiring to other artists and people who appreciate her talent.
Maria Aristidou has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art, and a Master’s in Arts Health. More videos and images of her coffee art can be viewed on her Facebook page . There’s one more added delight of having the opportunity to see Maria’s coffee art in person.
Maria Aristidou says, depending on what type of coffee she uses when she creates a painting, the aroma of the coffee can linger for some time.
[Featured image via Hindustan Times ]