image via myla kent

image via Souvenir Soul

image via Souvenir Soul

Gum, it’s everywhere…it’s on buildings, ont he sidewalk, under restaurant tables. But when does gum go from defacing and trashing public space to acting as public art? Like the gum wall in Post Alley near the Pike Place Market in Seattle, pictures above, or the tree covered in gum in Coyoacan outside Mexico City near Hidalgo Plaza, pictured below.

image via david.lafevor

How or why is it that a place becomes ok to put gum on, even to the point where it becomes well-known because of the gum and people know it as a place to visit, have their picture taken in front of it and to leave behind their own gooey addition to the art. Some people even draw things in the substance as if it was a spray can, proclaiming their love for someone or just letting people know that they were there. It becomes a source of expression.

image via oysters4me

Artist Simone Decker from Frankfurt, Germany has obviously been inspired by the idea of gum in public places. She placed sculptures all over Venice, a project that she has named “Chewing in Venice”, for the Venice Biennale 1999. These public art installations take gum in the public environment to a whole new level. I wonder what it would feel like to touch one.

images via Simone Decker