They might look like common oil paintings, to
the untrained eye, but these are actually edible masterpieces created with
chocolate and food coloring, by artistJean Zaun.
57-year-old Jean Zaun has always had a
passion for oil painting, but working in her family’s chocolate shop, in
downtown Lebanon, Pensylvania, she started getting bored and started
experimenting with chocolate as an art medium. “I was literally ‘stuck’ in
a puddle of chocolate eight hours a day. This was a coping mechanism to
alleviate the boredom of being a candy coater and also remind myself that I was
an artist” Jean says about her beginnings as a chocolate painter.
After 22 years of working in a chocolate
shop, Jean Zaun has now dedicated herself completely to painting in oil,
pastels and chocolate. Using white, dark and milk chocolate, food coloring,
sugars and confectionery glaze, she is able to reproduce famous paintings like Leonardo
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait, or Edvard Munch’s The
Scream, as well as create her own original works. Mrs Zaun works up to
five days on a single painting, after which she encases it in a chocolate frame
and covers it with a special glaze.
Although they are made from the world’s most
popular sweet, Jean Zaun says her chocolate paintings are to
be consumed by the eye, not the stomach. “They are works of art in their own
right and are to be kept and cherished as keepsakes”, she adds. That’s easier
said than done, especially when you have a sweet tooth and a chocolate painting
is the only sugary delight in the house.
Her works have sold for up to $1,440, and
they can be found in the private collections of people like Sharon Osbourne or
Al Roker, as well as in museums across America.
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