Created two months ago by a French graphic artist Arthur Coulet, the tumblr blog titled ‘Gluten-free Museum’ is gathering attention for its consistently-updated compilation of art works and stills from famous film scenes with every single trace of wheat removed.
The blog features Johannes Vermeer’s ‘The Milkmaid’ where she has lost her bread, Disney’s Lady and Tramp are staring lovingly down onto a table of nothingness, Grant Wood’s American Gothic has lost its pitchfork and The Simpsons’ Chief Wiggum has got his doughnut taken away. Other images where traces of wheat have been removed by the artist include ‘Le Petit Parisien’, Guinness advertand Chardin still life.
The artist was inspired by the image manipulations of the French Situationist movement to critique the celebrity-driven fads of contemporary society.The Gluten Free Museum contains multitudes, hinting at both class elements that underlie the gluten-free fad and the protein’s intrinsic importance in our lives.
According to studies only 1 percent of the British population suffers from coeliac disease, commonly known as gluten intolerance. However, statistics show that sales of gluten-free products rose by 15 percent last year. The difference has raised questions over the medical legitimacy of some people’s wheat-free diets.
