Artist Tanya Schultz Creates Psychedelic Art Installations with Candy

By Janaki Jitchotvisut

Mar 16, 2015

If you’ve ever wondered what a landscape made entirely of candy would look like, Australian artist Tanya Schultz’s work as Pip + Pop is a good place to start. Schultz’s psychedelic instillations have been displayed around the world, from Japan to Hong Kong to the Netherlands.

We recently chatted with Schultz about her process and inspiration. She explains,

I absolutely love buying candy from each country I visit. My favorite is the beautiful pressed sugar sweets from Japan, called higashi. They’re soft pastel colored sweets pressed into detailed shapes such as cherry blossoms, flowers, and leaves.

While the instillations are mainly comprised of sugar and candy, Shultz also incorporates tiny objects made from wax, along with glitter, clay, beads, icing, plastic flowers, fake birds, and mushrooms.

Peach Blossom. Very Fun Park, Fubon Art Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan 2014. (Photo: Fubon Art Foundation)

The artist finds inspiration in mythical paradises made of food. She explains,

I’m fascinated with folk tales and mythologies about paradise and utopia, especially lands made of food. Places where you can eat everything you desire, like the Dutch Luilekkerland, where candies fall from the sky, pastries grow on trees, and mountains are made of pudding. This mythological paradise is found in many cultures—the French Land of Cockaigne, the German Schlaraffenland, and similarly the US hobo’s paradise, Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Schultz is currently preparing for three solo shows across Korea in Seoul, Busan, and Incheon throughout April and May. You can also view Schultz’s work here on the Pip + Pop site. Here are a few of our favorites.

Mushroom Magic

Collaboration with Romance Was Born for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Carriageworks, Sydney 2013. (Photo: Lucas Dawson)

Through A Hole In The Mountain

MT Kurashiki, Japan 2014 (Photo: Keizo Kioku, courtesy of mt – masking tape)

Seeing Forever

Kuandu Biennale, Artist in Wonderland, KdMoFA, Taipei 2012 (Photo: Chiu Te-Hsing)

If You Find Me In A Dream

Hermès Maison, Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Satoshi Asakawa, Courtesy of Hermès Japon)

Moon Flower Dream

Smart Illumination Festival, ZAIM Building, Yokohama, Japan 2012 (Photo: Pip + Pop)

I Can Hold The Sun

Collaboration with Nicole Andrijevic, Dortmund Kunstlerhaus, Germany 2010 (Photo: Hannes Woidich)