Strange Worlds: Miniature Condiment Landscapes

Spicy aliens, furry fields, and how a domestic accident can spark creative genius.

There’s hardly a greater feat of creativity than portraying something ordinary through something mundane, to a cumulative effect of pure whimsy. That’s exactly what 26-year-old artist Matthew Albanese does in his fantastic — literally — Strange World series, incredibly detailed small-scale models of emotive landscapes made out of unusually usual everyday materials.

Tornado made of steel wool, cotton, ground parsley and moss

It all began in 2008 with an appropriately mundane domestic accident.

'Paprika Mars,' the very first landscape Albanese created, made of cinnamon, thyme, chili powder, and charcoal

One day I knocked over a tub of paprika. As I was cleaning up the mess I began to daydream and found I was playing with the paprika more than cleaning it up. I thought it was a great shade of red and it reminded me of Mars. So I figured I would bring Mars to me. I went out and bought 12lb of the pungent spice and created my first landscape – ‘Paprika Mars’. My studio smelled of paprika, but ever since then I have been interested in finding new materials and pushing myself to find out through experimentation what they could represent in my models.

Another Martian landscape, made out of 12 pounds paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder and charcoal

Through immaculate lighting and meticulous curation of tactile materials — faux fur for grass, cotton wool for clouds, bottle brushes for shrubs — Albanese creates uncannily realistic miniature worlds of wonder.

'Sugarland,' made out of 20 pounds of sugar, jello and corn syrup. Albanese grew the crystals in his studio over the course of two months.

'Burning Room,' made of wood, nylon, plexiglass and purchased dollhouse furniture. The model was actually set on fire to achieve this effect.

Perhaps most remarkable is Albanese’s incredible art of perspective — in less than three feet of length, he manages to evoke a sense of immensity and vastness, transporting you to heart of these whimsical landscapes.

'Aurora Borealis,' made by photographing a beam of colored light against a black curtain to achieve the edge effect, with holes in cork board to create the stars

'Fields, After the Storm,' made out of faux fur, cotton and sifted tile grout, with a shift in white balance to create the lighting effect

Albanese’s work reminds us of Matthew Carden’s Small World series of miniature food landscapes, with a hint of David Trautrimas’ Habitat Machines.

Explore the full Strange World series and let your jaw drop even further with the impressively laborious making-of.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 5:45 am in art, photography and was tagged art, cool, photography.

Strange Worlds – incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

brainpicker on February 4th, 2010 at 6:20 am

OMG no way RT @brainpicker Strange Worlds– incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

bonam on February 4th, 2010 at 6:23 am

RT @brainpicker Strange Worlds – incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

pphector on February 4th, 2010 at 6:23 am

RT @brainpicker: Strange Worlds – incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

RuthNineke on February 4th, 2010 at 6:30 am

RT @brainpicker incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

maggiephilbin on February 4th, 2010 at 6:30 am

RT @maggiephilbin: RT @brainpicker incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

Kat_Fletch on February 4th, 2010 at 6:32 am

Wowzers miniature landscapes made out of condiments http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (via @maggiephilbin)

EmmaK67 on February 4th, 2010 at 6:33 am

harrythehaggis on February 4th, 2010 at 6:36 am

JustOneFollower on February 4th, 2010 at 6:36 am

RT @brainpicker incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (via @maggiephilbin)

bigbouquet on February 4th, 2010 at 6:37 am

RT @EmmaK67: Wowzers miniature landscapes made out of condiments http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (via @maggiephilbin)

jonronson on February 4th, 2010 at 6:37 am

RT @EmmaK67

Wowzers miniature landscapes made out of condiments http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (via @maggiephilbin) [seem too accurate to be true!]

EcoEcoHope on February 4th, 2010 at 6:37 am

Incredible! RT @EmmaK67: Wowzers miniature landscapes made out of condiments http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (via @maggiephilbin)

OneInchMan on February 4th, 2010 at 6:38 am

HertsMan on February 4th, 2010 at 6:43 am

@DoucheLarue I think this qualifies for our file. What say you? http://ow.ly/13Ia2 (or should I say where are you? Helloo–lo—lo—)

MDuette on February 4th, 2010 at 6:44 am

Heresy_Andy on February 4th, 2010 at 6:45 am

ChrispLOL on February 4th, 2010 at 6:47 am

Utterly amazing! > RT @bigbouquet: incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

SarahBibby on February 4th, 2010 at 6:48 am

JonIzzard on February 4th, 2010 at 6:49 am

samdida on February 4th, 2010 at 6:50 am

RT @SarahBibby: RT @bigbouquet: incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made out of condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

StudioXIII on February 4th, 2010 at 6:54 am

earltedly on February 4th, 2010 at 6:56 am

Check out Carl Warner’s Foodscapes. Amazing:

http://www.carlwarner.com/

Emma P on February 4th, 2010 at 7:06 am

#Ubercool Food for the soul! RT @BrainPicker Incredible photorealistic miniature landscapes made with condiments & spices http://ow.ly/13Ia2

sanjeevn on February 4th, 2010 at 7:14 am

loztallis on February 4th, 2010 at 7:18 am

Bye ell lad there are some clever buggers oot der! http://tinyurl.com/yh39f2q

iPadbrit on February 4th, 2010 at 7:24 am

Strage Worlds: Miniature Condiment Landscapes | Brain Pickings: http://bit.ly/bHmCHp via @addthis

graciainglessis on February 4th, 2010 at 8:46 am

Strage Worlds: Miniature Condiment Landscapes: Spicy aliens, furry fields, and how a domestic accident can spark c… http://bit.ly/9GDRiN

andrewmsmyth on February 4th, 2010 at 5:32 pm

@mbhide Another way to use spice: http://is.gd/7JyJy. Thanks for the bday wishes. xx d

daphnehowland on February 4th, 2010 at 8:31 pm

Cool! Miniature Condiment Landscapes http://bit.ly/drYWiC

superos on February 4th, 2010 at 9:00 pm

Strage Worlds: Miniature Condiment Landscapes | Brain Pickings http://bit.ly/aMSbc0

catmyn on February 4th, 2010 at 10:45 pm

Mini condiment landscapes. http://tinyurl.com/yhpo74r #amazing

drewyouapicture on February 7th, 2010 at 3:49 pm

[...] that i hoped would become long-term would be filed in with the cucumber sauce and paprika, the strange condiments, impossible to find by searching for them. so maybe this blog, which is still lacking in real [...]

it’s been five days « we radio hello. we never land. on June 7th, 2010 at 8:00 pm

[...] http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/02/04/matthew-albanese-strange-worlds/ [...]

mars thing | The Horror From Mars: The Blog on July 6th, 2010 at 10:33 am