Chewed Art

Spotting a space invader on the walls is so yesterday, you know. Too easy! The new thing*, here in London, is to look for fine painted vintage chewing gums deeply encrusted in the city floors.

I know  exactly what you are going to say: you need the oeil de lynx to spot those ones. Moles and other blinds rodents don't stand a chance to enjoy Ben Wilson's tiny pieces of art. In fact, a big majority of people, well everyone really, treads on them without realising it.

This is the beauty of it. Chewed art is for the happy few. But no one is left out, you see. Frenetic chewers in a hurry, by throwing their tired gum away on the pavement, are the anonymous contributors of an endless and multidimensional Art.

They are part of the gummunity. In the meantime, I can't help but asking myself what flavour those gums were. Spearmint? Probably.

* Well at least for me, because Ben Wilson painted his first chewing gum in 1998. The exact year France won the world cup. I wonder how far England went during this world cup. I guess not far. This is probably why Ben, bored and disappointed, took up gum painting. Only my 2 pence worth.