Packaged foods come in elaborately designed boxes , which have been scrutinized and tweaked by well-funded marketing and advertising departments for decades so that they stand out and say “buy-me”, in the canyon like supermarket aisles where they’re found. Not only do these designs move shoppers to buy them, their bright and attractive colors, and bold patterns make interesting art pieces when framed in black. The contrast with black makes those colors and patterns come alive even more.

I recently gathered some packaged food boxes (and a couple of other boxes) that were destined for recycle, framed each in black paint and then stacked them – a Tower of Packaged Food Boxes. I normally work with silver, orange, black and white, but like the colors already found in these boxes.

I recently read an article in Good Magazine titled “Zero-Packaging Grocery Store to Open in Austin, Texas“. The new grocery store is In.gredients and shoppers fill their own containers with food rather than purchasing them pre-packaged. Great sustainability concept but not great for my recycled art.  If this concept takes of, I’ll need to find different materials.