We have witnessed many occasions where art imitates life, but, in the age of technology art meets life on the Internet. The New Year has provided us with yet another occassion of the sort.
2017 greeted us with the spectacular first meme which came as courtesy of the mesmerizing Turkish chef Nurset Gokce when he posted to his Instagram. The video showcased the chef's flair to sprinkle salt on steak slices.
The performance gained fame rapidly and was circulated around the Internet, gaining the chef the charming title of #saltbae. The Salt Bae's short video was quickly transformed into the internet's favorite art form - memes. After a few weeks of being circulated around the web in the form of a meme, Nurset Gokce was remembered in another remarkable manner.
Famous artist Allan Pachino Wallace proved that Salt Bae was not the only person who could season his way into our hearts. Creating a commemorative portrait of the Turkish chef, Wallace used the technique of "sprinkling salt". The painstaking effort put into recreating Gokce's culinary skills by making use of real salt has gained Wallace fame and recognition, too.
The hyper realistic art piece was displayed on Instagram by the artist himself. The artist also uploaded a video of himself smudging out the portrait after completion tagging it with "Salt Bae Salt Art #cleanup." The post gained 27,000 likes and close to 2000 comments in only 4 days.
Wallace is very familiar with the medium of salt and his Instagram account has multiple portrait posts that he created purely out of salt. These portraits include former President Barack Obama, and famous personalities such as the rapper, Drake. Wallace is also a freestyle artist who makes use of other mediums such as chalk, acrylic and ink.
In all of the designs and creations shared by Wallace, the Salt Bae Salt Art portrait is one that has gained the most recognition.
