Modern Bite has transformed cookies, cupcakes and cakes into art you can eat. The Los Angeles Bakery combines the design talents of Greg Roth with the baking expertise of Daniel Shapiro resulting in some of the most beautiful and sophisticated desserts you've ever seen.
Flavor options, design options, custom versions and boxed assortments of their baked goods are available both locally and shipped via Fed Ex. If you are looking for a memorable way to satisfy both your eyes and stomachs, Modern Bite bakery is the place.
Their shortbread cookies come in the three design collections shown below or single versions of the nine beautiful options.
Also available are an array of eight gourmet cookies, ranging from classic Chocolate Chip to Tofu Peanut Pretzel Cookies.
Cupcakes are available in three different modern design versions with your choice of chocolate. vanilla or red velvet cake and your choice of chocolate or cream cheese frosting:
Fondant cakes for birthdays, holidays and any other occasion are available in beautiful modern designs or custom versions. Here are a few of my favorites:
Classic cakes include carrot, vanilla salted caramel, chocolate, red velvet, vanilla birthday cake and a dobosh torte. all images and info courtesy of Modern Bite
MODERN BITE puts an innovative design spin on mouth-wateringly delicious desserts. With a focus on delectable taste and texture and impeccable detail and artistry, the Los Angeles-based bakery brings the highest caliber ingredients and individualized customer service to its uniquely styled baked treats.
Creations from the MODERN BITE kitchen are the culmination of its partners’ passions and backgrounds.
At age 14, Daniel Shapiro parlayed his love of baking into a small business making and selling cakes to restaurants in his native Montreal. After earning an MBA from The Wharton School, he dedicated over twenty years to the branding and marketing of renowned entertainment and lifestyle companies.
As MODERN BITE’s visual tastemaker, Greg Roth draws on his fine art and architecture studies at Brown University and the Southern California Institute of Architecture, as well as two decades of experience designing restaurants and private residences.
above: Banksy's Flower Thrower becomes Tom Hanks chucking Wilson, the volleyball that kept him company in Castaway
Street Art and Graffiti often tends to be tongue-in cheek to begin with. Add another layer of puns and fun and you've got Hanksy's work - A mash up of the street art by Banksy and the movies of award winning actor Tom Hanks.
The street art references Hanks' roles in films such as Big, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Castaway, A League of Their Own, Apollo 13 and The Money Pit to name a few. The familiar Bansky stencils are modified to include Hanks' head and lines relating to the movies, infused with puns and wordplays.
above: the Hansky exhibit at Krause Gallery
The images and work of Hanksy have appeared on the streets of New York and Chicago and New York's Krause Gallery featured much of his work on paper in a recent exhibit.
The following images are from that show.
And here are some shots of Hanksy's work in situ:
Tom Hanks isn't the only celebrity in the work by Hansky, check out his street art of Ted Danson, Ryan Gosling (Drive-Thru), Bill Cosby (Jello) and Erkel (Cheese):
The text below is courtesy of the Krause Gallery: A street artist is doing some amazing new street art in and around NYC. He goes by the name of HANKSY. Add the overwhelming popularity of Tom Hanks to the cool factor of the most famous street artist of all time, Banksy, and you get HANKSY. HANKSY has become a social media phenomenon with his imaginative street art spoofs by taking images of Banksy’s work and adding in references from Tom Hanks’ films.
“People have speculated whether HANKSY is just a play on words or perhaps something a bit more, does he hate Banksy? Is it homage to one of the greatest street artists and actors of our time? Maybe it’s an attempt to subvert the subversive or perhaps it plays on the uniquely American pleasure the public finds in trivial imagery. Maybe in the end its much more straightforward? Add a certain ‘sometimes’ vowel at the end of a specific actor’s surname and it sounds an awful lot like the world’s most well-known street artist. (via Krause Gallery)
Yes, Etch A Sketch has recently been all over the news as a result of what some are calling a political 'scandal' or a 'gaffe' when an aide for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney compared it with Romney's fall election strategy (see video below).
Sales for the 104 year old toy have increased by 1500% in the last week and on Thursday afternoon, the Ohio Arts Company also started ShakeItUpAmerica.net, a site with links for both voter registration and Etch A Sketch retailers.
Coincidentally, I had begun a blog post on the most talented Etch-A-Sketch artists just prior to this recent incident. So, given all the buzz about the toy and the recent increase in sales, now is a good time to inspire you all with the following.
There are several artists who actually create permanent artwork on the classic Ohio Art Company's Etch-A-Sketch (and more are listed at the end of this post), but George Vlosich III is one of the most talented and prolific of the bunch. An artist who works in many mediums, he is best known for his ability to create fantastic and awe inspiring portraits on that old beloved toy with the red plastic frame.
He's transformed the classic Ohio Art brand Etch-A-Sketch from a child's toy into a collection of pop art that been featured in museums and galleries across the country and the originals sell for thousands of dollars. Each is an original work of art that takes 70-80 hours to create.
He has rendered montages of politicians, celebrities, musicians, athletes, movie casts, cities and countries in the familiar red framed toy.
Barack Obama and Lincoln Memorial:
The Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton: Elvis: Michael Jackson: Jay-Z: Cal Ripken Jr.: Magic Johnson: Tiger Woods: James Lebron, MVP: Gone With The Wind: The cast of Gangs of New York: Muhammed Ali: Americana: New York: Las Vegas:
He has been featured on shows such as Oprah, The Late Show with David Letterman and ABC – 20/20 to name a few. He created a Paul McCartney piece (shown below) specifically for Art Basel 2011 which was displayed with the Verne Gallery:
The Paul McCartney piece for Art Basel Miami in progress:
How does he do it?
George carefully plans out the image by sketching in a notebook before starting any work on the Etch. He designs as much as he can that will fit on the 5 x 7 inch screen.
He works meticulously with the line and if he makes a mistake, he has to start over. he begins by getting all the line work of the portraits in first.
Once he gets all the line work in and is confident it looks like his intended subject, he begins to shade. He claims that is the easy part, but also the most time consuming and tedious. What looks like one line may be traced over between ten to fifteen times. To actually do the shading from light to dark may require a line being traced over 20 to 30 times.
Once the work is complete, he has to make sure that it can never be erased. Aluminum powder is inside the Etch-A-Sketch and sticks to the glass when you shake it. A stylus inside scratches off the powder, thus creating the image. George must carefully remove both the powder and stylus so that the image on the screen becomes permanent.
Once the Etch is complete, George photographs each final artwork for his website, and his own personal collection.
For the first time, through the studio of GV Art + Design they are now offering quicker, simple personalized Etch-A-Sketches created from a photograph. The price for a simple one portrait Etch A Sketch is $725.00.
Additional portraits can be added for an additional cost. For your purchase, you will receive a permanent Etch-A-Sketch of your portrait shipped and delivered to you.
*Please Note: These are personal pictures ONLY: no athletes, celebrities or iconic images will be created. The artwork created on these Etch A Sketches are done by the GV Art + Design studio and not done by George Vlosich III.
Other Etch-A-Sketch Artists
Yes, I am aware that there are several other talented Etch-A-Sketch artists out there. Below are just a few, many of whom will create commissioned portraits or sell prints of their work.
And Christoph Brown who etches on the pocket sized version of the Etch-A-Sketch:
Other Etch-A-Sketch artists worth mentioning and whose work you can see in the Ohio Art Hall Of Fame: Eric Rowlett Tim George Andrea Malenich Shea Baker Stacy King And for those who love the nostalgia of the Etch-A Sketch, be sure to check out the awesome Official Etch-a-sketch iPad case! images for this post are courtesy of the individual artist and the Ohio Art Company
