Kay Kurt has Haribo to thank for the majority of her artistic career.

Without their gummy bears, watches, snakes, cars, fish, etc., Kurt would have a far fewer works of high-fructose fun!

Haribo started in the 1920s when a man by the name of Hans Riegel wanted to spice up his life. He worked for a confectionary factory and was incredibly bored, so he decided to strike out on his own and make fun candy in the shape of cute little bears that children and adults alike would grow to love. And thus was the beginning of Haribo, a name that combined the first two letters of the founder’s first name, last name, and hometown, Bonn, Germany. The company still dominates the world’s gummy candy stage with everything from specialized ringtones (The Gummy Bear Song) to a 1980s Disney TV series (The Adventures of the Gummi Bears)...and now apparently the art world.

Weingummi II stands at an impressive 6 feet by 6 feet and therefore, when looking at it you feel like you’re in a real life Candyland. For those of you with less of a sweet tooth, Kay Kurt may not be your jam and you’ll have to look beyond the candy to what the candy is saying about society. Kurt explains, “In these common, innocuous, mass produced objects I find the expressive visual equivalences for the intensity, complexity, irony, and subtlety I see in life every day, providing a pervasive and compelling raison d’être for my paintings and drawings.” Which I'm sure is what you were already thinking.