Corny Beyoncé is made with cornflakes.
Cereal isn't nearly as buzzy as Serial, but Sarah Rosado is trying to change that — one corn flake at a time. The Manhattan-based artist makes portraits by shaping breakfast cereal (minus the milk) into portraits of pop music’s most recognizable faces: Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and many more.
Rosado’s medium might seem gimmicky, but the intricacy of assembly is what makes these images stand out. If Georges Seurat had Fruity Pebbles (and a camera) lying around, he might have ended up with something like this portrait of Pharrell.
Rosado's other work also plays with unusual materials. In a series called "Dirty Little Secrets," she shapes dirt and mulch into whimsical, stencil-like images of animals and recognizable skylines.
As far as her breakfast cereal portraits go, her personal favorite is a likeness of Alicia Keys. “I think I nailed that one,” she says.
Her love of cereal is more than an artistic choice. “I eat corn flakes almost every day,” she says. “And I always add sliced bananas.” But Rosado keeps her breakfast and art separate: She always buys one box for playing, and one for human consumption.
This story was first published by Sideshow, a new podcast from PRI's SoundWorks network.