SCANNER+SANDWICH=ART
Take a scanner and buy a sandwich for lunch. You are an artist.
Jon Chonko is an innovative foodie, blogger and NY designer who makes art using a scanner and his lunch sandwiches. It is an “artistic discovery of ingredient, culture and memories through the scanned pictures of dissected sandwiches using a standard flatbed scanner.”
A few years ago, when he was working in Soho, a neighbourhood in the heart of New York, a fantastic place for sandwiches, he had a brilliant idea. His office was strategically located right at the intersection of Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side, all great places where to purchase a succulent snack. He and his colleagues would buy different tasty sandwiches for lunch everyday. During one random conversation the word “Scanwiches” popped out. “I immediately thought, ‘that could totally be something! I could scan a sandwich.’ The next day I brought a scanner into the office and scanned my lunch sandwich. The results were awesome looking so I started a blog.” At the beginning, Jon went through a phase where he didn’t focus on the taste but rather mostly on the color of the sandwiches: now, they all taste nice, he tries them for you! (Lucky him- he styles all of them and eats them all).
But what does Jon finds fascinating in such a product?
“I love the flexibility of sandwiches. The have such simple rules. Anything you put between bread. That means that sandwiches can be incredibly diverse. I am always fascinated by the wild sandwiches people come up with. I also really love the history of sandwiches. Every famous sandwich has some reason for existing and it’s usually a good story. I love learning the origins and evolutions of sandwiches out there. I’m not sure I dislike anything about sandwiches. I usually start eating a sandwich even before I’ve finished making it.”
At the beginning of this foodie adventure, Jon was not such an adventurous eater, preferring to play it safe with a standard daily BTL. But when he decided he would never scan the same sandwich from the same place twice a whole new world opened his doors to this dynamic eater.
“Within a week I had run out of my usuals and had to move on to new shops. The first new place I went after that was Banh Mi So 1 shop a block away from my office to get the Vietnamese meatball sandwich. I had never heard of, let alone, tried a banh mi before I started scanning sandwiches. Tasting that sandwich changed my life. It’s a brilliant meal and still remains one of my favourite sandwich.” Good tip, everyone tries Banh Mi tomorrow, it’s your homework!
The philosophy and message behind this project now turned to an exhibition at the precious miniature gallery JsX55 next to Williamsburg Bridge is “to celebrate the sandwich. Sandwiches are amazing meals. They’re incredibly diverse, beautifully and intricately constructed, and hold so much history. Yet they’re such a humble food.” “I want to show them off and portray them as the awesome important things that they are.”
At the gallery it is possible to purchase the beautiful prints in 3 different sizes: real, medium and giant. Last Sunday he did a live scan at JJ55 using a huge Plexiglas hanging on the hooks to project, turned into a video screen.
Some of the delicacies portrayed on the prints are Katz’s deli pastrami and rye sandwich, Frankies’ 17 avocado sandwich and spicy rizaak by Tiny Giant sandwich shop.
However, our favorite stays the banh mi!
Congrats Jon!
Pictures credit: the Scanwiches: ©Jon Chonko
Others: ©JaegerSloan Inc
