Ernie Button has turned a cautionary line about playing with food into a rigorous artistic practice. In his ongoing series called Cerealism, he constructs miniature landscapes entirely from breakfast cereals. Cheerio pyramids rise like playful monuments, while a canyon carved from slices of French toast invites the eye to linger. Button’s works are celebrated for precise detail and a sense of whimsy. Each scene rewards careful looking, revealing textures and subtle color shifts born from tiny cereal fragments. The pieces blend humor with craft, nudging viewers to notice the ordinary materials that surround them. This approach makes a common kitchen staple a doorway into landscape interpretation, inviting reflection on scale, material choice, and the power of imagination to reframe everyday objects as art.
Over more than a decade Button has grown the project into a sprawling portfolio of micro ecosystems. Each landscape is built from whatever cereals he can source, letting availability shape the hues and textures that emerge. The idea traces back to childhood when his family could not always afford branded cereals, a constraint that sparked inventive thinking rather than frustration. The practice embodies resourcefulness and a celebration of everyday food items, recast as microcosms of mountains, canyons, and coastlines. Collectors and critics alike have noted how the installations invite the eye to move from broad shapes to minute details, revealing the care poured into every grain and crumb. The series continues to expand, a testament to curiosity and the joy of making art from humble beginnings.
Images from the Cerealism project offer a window into this edible sculpture, showing how simple cereals can be arranged to resemble familiar terrains. The photographs capture scale, composition, and the surprising realism of textures that appear when small pieces are carefully arranged. Viewers are drawn into the process, imagining how a casual breakfast could evolve into a landscape worthy of contemplation. This ongoing project shows how material choice and thoughtful framing can shift perception, turning a breakfast table into a gallery where stories are told through form.
A selection of images from Button’s Cerealism series offers a vivid impression of the project. The images reveal mountains built from corn flakes, deserts formed from segments of toasted bread, and rivers traced with oat clusters. Each piece communicates a steady commitment and an inventive approach to materials, inviting audiences to reimagine the everyday pantry as a studio for sculpture and landscape design. The work continues to grow as new cereals bring different textures, colors, and possibilities, inviting conversations about art, memory, and the way simple items become extraordinary through careful arrangement. Attribution: Cerealism project notes from the artist.