Image via Complex Original
If you have ever experienced true joy and happiness in your life, you've probably also had pizza. There's nothing like opening that cardboard box and getting a first whiff of a cheesy, savory pizza pie or hitting up your local spot for a slice. As amazing as it is, it's no wonder that it has inspired several artists, past and present.
From various sculptures to even re-used boxes, there are so many things an artist can do with pizza. We want to take you on a wondrous art-filled journey down a golden mozzarella lane. Here are 25 Art Pieces Inspired by Pizza. Be sure to thank us later.
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25 Art Pieces Inspired by Pizza
Pizza House
Pizza House by Valeriya Volkova, 2012
Valeriya Volkova's Pizza House includes pizza in an extremely untraditional way. Her art normally depicts imagined lands where retro TV cartoons meet surrealist hallucinations, and there's no doubt that you might feel like a little tripped out looking at this piece, too.
Battle of Brooklyn
Battle of Brooklyn by General Howe, 2010
Street artist General Howe's 2010 Battle of Brooklyn is a micro-recreation of the actual "Battle of Brooklyn" that took place exactly 234 years earlier. The setting was the waterfront where Staten Island connects to Brooklyn with New York's youngest bridge. It included plastic toy army men and a pizza box to represent a ship floating on the beach.
Pizza Appeal, Pizza-A-Peel! (Trompe l'oeil style)
Pizza Appeal, Pizza-A-Peel! (Trompe l'oeil style) by Diane Casey, 2007
New York artist Diane Casey's work is a realistic depiction of pizza right out of the oven, slightly burnt cheese and all. To add to the effect, this piece is painted on an actual wooden pizza-peel. The artist says, "I believe an important purpose of art is to delight and often experiment with color and texture."
Pizza
Pizza by Nate Lowman, 2011
Artist Nate Lowman is affiliated with a group of New York artists once dubbed Warhol's Children, which is apparent in his art; his aesthetic is part-trash, part-classical, and definitely pop. Lowman's 2011 piece can be described as pop-influenced yet quizzical enough to make audiences think about the authenticity of objects and their presentation in general.
Pizza Meal
Pizza Meal by Joy Kampia, 2005
Joy Kampia deals with a lot of food—burgers, ice cream, and obviously, pizza—all crocheted wonderfully to make you want to eat and nap at the same time. Her 2005 piece, Pizza Meal is extraordinary to look at. Joy states, "Because I enjoy the irony between subject matter and material, I have merged my favorite subject matter (food) with my favorite process (crochet). I love food too much to be satisfied with its transience."
Paint Your Pizza
Paint Your Pizza by Jonas Lund, 2013
Jonas Lund's Paint Your Pizza is a website where you can paint your very own pizza and order it to be delivered to your door, which opens up pizza to a world of possibilities. If this isn't the best use of the internet to create art and food, then we simply don't know what is.
Pizza Party
Pizza Party by Natalia Fabia, 2010
Natalia Fabia's work plays around with the idea of sexual freedom within the context of femininity and societal expectations. Especially in these politically correct times, Natalia's "hooker"-inspired work pushes the boundaries. From the artist's perspective, "The word 'hooker; sounded very provocative and sexy to me. I have never used it literally. This is actually a definition that I found in a DICTIONARY that I think is amazing: 'A hooker is someone who sells their talent or abilities' so everyone is a hooker! Especially artists!"
Untitled
Untitled by Pae White, 2013
Pae White's art is elegant and simple. This piece is unique from her signature pieces in that she didn't actually complete it by herself. The pizza boxes are the remnants of a meal consumed by the team of eight technicians who spent ten days making her installation at South London Gallery.
Pizzatopia
Pizzatopia by The Bruce High Quality Foundation, 2009
Anything that The Bruce High Quality Foundation does is going to be cool and shrouded in mystery...but mostly cool. This piece is no different with a diameter of 130 inches, constructed out of foam, wood, and plastic for a show titled "VOLTA."
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Vegan Pizza Party
Vegan Pizza Party by Jerstin Crosby, 2012
Brooklyn-based artist Jerstin Crosby loves pizza. His sculptures and work are based off of the juxtapositions we experience while surfing the Internet. Vegan Pizza Party is a pizza slice with a strobe light, disco ball, and house music playing from inside the bubble, akin to a rave.
Supreme
Supreme by Johnston Foster, 2010
This piece is pretty unsettling. Johnston Foster's sculptures aim to disturb and shock, by taking normal objects and animals and grossly distorting them. Johnston uses bits of detritus, including tires, hair brushes, shoes, car parts, and a wide range of other reclaimed materials for his work, including the small details like the bugs.
Pizza Palette
Pizza Palette by Claes Oldenburg , 1996
This 1996 print by Claes Oldenburg is straightforward and simple—no need for an MFA interpretation here. Several copies of this print can currently be found at various art auction houses, including Christie's.
Pizza God
Pizza God by Spencer Sweeney, 2011
Spencer Sweeney focuses on the lines and texture, rather than an elaborate color palette. It seems as if he referenced Matisse and Picasso for this piece. It's a common theme for artists on this list, and Sweeney is injecting his own sense of humor into a more traditional style of art.
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Superbidone Pizza Delivery
Superbidone Pizza Delivery by Nicholas Hatfull, 2009
This contemporary work of art by Nicholas Hatfull is currently in a Saatchi gallery, but it's not his only painting that includes pizza in some form. Born in 1984 in Tokyo, Nicholas Hatfull graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in London in 2011. Ever the conscious artist, Hatfull notes, "I think of my paintings as akin to opening a can of soda: there's a gasp of the effervescent, but you know it's going to go flat. I use flat things, and they go flat in the painting, but my job is to add nutrition or levity."
Crust Ring
Crust Ring by Chris Bradley, 2011
Believe it or not, Chris Bradley's Crust Ring is actually plinth and painted cast bronze, even if it looks so lifelike. It preserves the act of arranging uneaten crusts into a circle. The artist's work was shown at the Independent Weekly Gallery at CAM Raleigh in the 2012 exhibition, Close One. Pizza is an inspirational object and idea for Chris Bradley, who has used pizza boxes in some of his other pieces, including his 2012 piece,Tequlia Sunset.
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Cheese Slice on Garland
Cheese Slice on Garland by Eric Yahnker, 2010
Eric Yahnker's Cheese Slice on Garland was part of his 2011 exhibition, "Cracks of Dawn," which featured elaborate pieces that examine pop culture and politics. His contemporary work seeks to reframe the way we see traditional images, objects, and figures.
Weekends
Weekends by Matt Caputo, 2012
Weekends by Matt Caputo was actually an entry into Fecal Face's weekly drawing contest. 27-year-old artist Matt Caputo uses pen and ink to create witty, humorous illustrations and is is inspired mostly by jokes, his friends, family, good movies, television, sandwiches, animals, and pizza, clearly.
Dude on Pizza #2
Dude on Pizza #2 by Michelle Devereux, 2011
The Austin-based artist makes work for people out there who like to have fun, and who can disagree with that? There are a lot of themes that make you think of a day at the arcade, from the '80s references to pizza and strange pop-culture.
Physical Pizza Networking Theory
Physical Pizza Networking Theory by John Riepenhoff, 2010
John Riepenhoff's "sculpture" was an actual pizza topped with much smaller pizzas that was eventually eaten by guests. The piece, seemingly simple at first is meant to explore the social as material in art. As explained by the artist, "symbolic experience of pizza as a hearth, as meeting point, as cultural convergence, as party, as sculpture, as gift, as collage, as pie, and individuals as ingredients within pieces of a social pie adding up to something greater than their whole in a deliciously simple way." Physical Pizza Networking Theory was created as part of a collage show at a Milwaukee gallery.
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Untitled (Pizza)
Untitled (Pizza) by Tom Friedman, 2013
Tom Friedman's untitled sculpture of a pizza was shown at this year's Frieze Art Fair in NYC. Much of the artist's work depicts enlarged food, like an over-sized piece of bread that also shared the installation space with his untitled pizza piece. It seems that Mr. Friedman has a thing for carbs. We can't blame him.