When most people hear or see the word mold, they cringe. Their minds immediately transport to the thought of unwanted and even dangerous mold growth in their homes. Their minds might laser focus in on rotting food items. There are some instances in which people might ultimately have a more positive response to mold. For example, mold is needed to make certain types of medications and food products. What most people do not know is that there are people who make compelling and ever beautiful works of art using mold as their medium.

Artists Who Work in Mold 

There are a number of artists in the world today who are garnering acclaim for their work with mold in pursuing their artistic objectives. These include:

• Klaus Pichler
• Antoine Bridier-Nakmias
• Johanna Mårtensson
• Elin Thomas
• Daniela Del Nero
• Gemma Schiebe

Klaus Pichler

Klaus Pichler is one of the leading artists who uses mold in his work. Specifically, Pichler utilizes rotting food, covered in mold, in his art. Critics have said that Klaus Pichler “makes rotting food look majestic.” 

Pichler explains that his mold-inspired food is designed to highlight starvation and wasted food in the world today. Experts estimate that about one-third of all food ends up wasted. Pichler explains that he wants his work to let people know that more than 925 million people around the world are threatened with starvation right now. 

Antoine Bridier-Nahmias

Antoine Bridier-Nahmias is another artist who uses mold as a medium. Bridier-Nahmias grows mold and other microorganisms under highly controlled situations. He makes adjustments to temperature, light, and oxygen levels when growing mold and other microorganisms. These adjustments alter the color, texture, and other visual elements of mold and other microorganisms being grown. 

Bridier-Nahmias’ project is called Magical Contamination. He undertakes these controlled growths in Petri dishes. In the end, Bridier-Nahmias turns these Petri dishes into works of art. 

Johanna Mårtensson

Johanna Mårtensson uses moldy bread to create sobering cityscapes. Mårtensson uses pieces of moldy bread to construct alarming, sobering cityscapes, complete with buildings and other structures. 

Mårtensson explains that her work is designed to display or illustrate what a world abandoned by humans would look like. She describes her work as the end result of how the world would rot without maintenance being undertaken by humans. 

Mårtensson explains her work in this way: “Another picture of what might happen when the show is over.” She confirms that her work with mold is designed to portray the chilling results of humankind suddenly vanishing. 

Elin Thomas

Elin Thomas has a truly unique approach to incorporating mold into art. Specifically, Thomas sews and crochets mold patterns into fabric. Her pieces are crafted to capture the unique characteristics of fungus and bacteria. 

The work of Elin Thomas is quite fanciful, complete with the use of a variety of naturally occurring colors and textures. She accomplishes this in such a way that critics have come to describe as the work of Elin Thomas being capable of “making Petri dishes look cute.”

Daniele Del Nero

Daniele Del Nero is yet another artist who uses mold as a medium that creates artistic models of buildings and other structures. He uses a combination of black paper, flour, and mold in creating his unique work. Specifically, Del Nero creates what looks to be haunted houses or city blocks left in ruin using mold. 

Critics have described Del Nero’s work as creating a “chilling story.” His work is said to be designed to “question the environments in which we live and the memories that the buildings we reside in hold.”

Gemma Schiebe

Gemma Schiebe is becoming renowned for combing an array of different mediums in her work. In fact, she selects what many have called “strange mediums” for her artistic efforts. These include:

• Sugar
• Cotton
• Wool
• Mold
• Fruit

She mixes these mediums together to form mixed-media structures. She also incorporates video and photographs into her artistic endeavors to present such things as decay in progress. She describes some of her efforts as “a strange juxtaposition going on between the perfectly formed fruit and the fake decay moldy looking exterior.”

The Realities of Mold

Although some people have been able to control mold and turn the fungi into art, in most cases mold is a problem and even a hazard. For this reason, if you believe you’ve a mold issue in your home or at your business, you need to take proactive steps to protect yourself, your family, your work colleagues, and others.

You may find yourself in a situation where you think you might have a mold problem, but you’ve not actually seen it. For example, your home or business may have a musty smell. 

If you do think you might have a mold issue in your home or business, you are well served engaging the services of a mold inspection and mold remediation professional. A mold inspection and mold remediation professional can intervene to eliminate and lessen the likelihood of another mold problem in the future.