Put down the oils and acrylics and grab a diet soda. Mike Bouchet has been painting with cola since 2004. He worked with an essence lab to create the syrup, which was initially intended to be shipped to China as a conceptual art piece. After realizing that his caramel creation could be used as a kind of india ink, he went that route and began experimenting.
“Technically, these works are large-scale monochromatic watercolors on cotton,” the artist said, “but I refer to them as stainings. The way cola saturates the weave of the fabric creates a very different effect than traditional pigments that are built up on a ground.” I think this is a great exercise in avoiding cliches, and the brown is really beautiful. Bouchet’s cola pieces can be seen at Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea.
