When black teenager Trayvon Martin was fatally shot in 2012, he was carrying a packet of Skittles which later became a symbol of his innocence.
So artist Harold Claudio decided to honour that, using the colourful sweets in his work.
The 34-year-old from West Palm Beach, Florida only creates portraits of powerful black people including Tupac, Beyonce, Bob Marley and of course, Trayvon using Skittles.
He tells Metro.co.uk that his earlier works were made using the traditional pencil but following the brutality against Trayvon, he changed his choice of medium.
‘I decided to use Skittles when the Trayvon Martin incident happened,’ he explains.
‘I was inspired to start a movement by one of the items he had during the time he was killed.
‘The way I see it, no matter what we (people of color) do, it’s seen as a threat in society when I’m actually we are sweet and colorful, like the candy.’
His portraits – which take two weeks to put together – became more meaningful after Harold realised that the confectionary’s slogan ‘taste the rainbow’ could be applied to real life.
‘I had the idea of using the skittles as a way of taking the candies “taste the rainbow” mantra and was motivated to make an impact by highlighting different subjects of culture.
‘So it’s “taste the culture”. Anyone that can relate to the sweet amazing candy should be able to relate it to the culture.’
Harold, a full-time artist, is self-taught and began drawing in his childhood.
He adds: ‘I’ve been doing art ever since I first picked up a pencil, never studied it or was taught. It was just something me and my siblings did on our downtime. We’d just draw ninja turtles all over the walls at home.’
While you might not spot it immediately, there are white Skittles in his work. But to get them, he has to have it imported from the UK or Canada as they aren’t available to him in the States.
Once it’s put together, it becomes inedible art, to be revered at rather than eaten.
And the subjects of his portraits are chosen by considering the cultural impact they’ve had.
He says: ‘I feel that whoever is making a sweet positive impact in moving the culture forward in society should be immortalised in Skittles art.
‘The different colours make it even more significant because there are so many different people from diverse backgrounds.
‘Putting it all together to make beautiful and influential people represent all of us/society. If we came together, we, too, can make the same beautiful impact being unified.’
He concludes: ‘The message of peace and unity is a sweet, vibrant, colourful thing. So I will continue to define that with the art that I do.’
You can see more of his art on the Harold Claudio website.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/11/artist-makes-powerful-portraits-of-influential-black-people-using-skittles-11078197/
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