Celebrating Day of the Dead with Sugar Skull Artist @ilovesugarskulls
To see more artwork made of sugar, water and meringue, follow @ilovesugarskulls on Instagram.
“It’s a time of storytelling, remembrance and celebration of life for those who are no longer with us,” explains artist Robert Owens (@ilovesugarskulls), who goes by the name Rob-O, about the meaning of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
On the holiday, many visit cemeteries to tidy up and decorate the graves of their departed friends and family, leaving traditional offerings such as marigolds, mementos and sugar skulls. “Our first attempt at making sugar skulls and the Royal icing was comedy. The icing was too thin and it just ran a bit, so all the sugar skulls looked kind of sad,” Rob-O recalls. But over time, the artist perfected his recipe and became intrigued with the concept of turning the sugar skull into art. “It was pretty exciting to push the boundaries.”
Although all ingredients for the sugar skulls are edible, Rob-O wants his works to withstand time and pass on to future generations: “It’s a piece of me, a moment of time that I will never get back, and I want to share this with the world.”