Sugar as Art: From Oppenheim's Ring to Duchamp's Readymade

An article on Artribune explores the use of sugar in contemporary art, tracing its presence from Meret Oppenheim's 1936-37 Sugar Ring to Marcel Duchamp's 1921 readymade Why Not Sneeze Rrose Sélavy?. Oppenheim's ring, a gold band with a sugar cube holder, allowed wearers to sweeten coffee on the go. André Pieyre de Mandiargues noted the ironic contrast between the humble sugar and the precious jewelry. Brendan Jamison creates architectural sculptures from sugar cubes, exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in 2015 and in diabetes research centers like the American Association of Diabetes Educators. In 2012, he reproduced the door of 10 Downing Street, and in 2015, a Swiss Army knife. Vik Muniz's 1996 Sugar Children series portraits children from Saint Kitts who work in sugar cane fields, drawn with sugar. Aldo Mondino's works include Food Ball (1966), a soccer ball in sugar on blue; Reliquerizia (1995), a mosaic of white and light brown sugar cubes; and Le Sucre au Coeur (1971), a church facade on a blue plate. Duchamp's Why Not Sneeze Rrose Sélavy? features 152 marble sugar cubes in a birdcage, a readymade that substitutes marble for sugar.