Marcelo Nawar
American, Peruvian & Egyptian
the
art
Wax Animals was born out of resourcefulness and curiosity, taking one man’s trash and making it...art.
During the pandemic, Nawar discovered the malleability of his roommates discarded Babybel cheese wax, a substance that holds shape but never permanently hardens. This was Nawar’s introduction to sculpture. He has since stuck with this non-traditional material despite its fragility, giving the work a mortality—like its subjects.
Many hours were spent crafting sculptures in the likeness of his favorite animals, adding more to the collection as his roommate’s obsession with edam cheese only grew.
While most of them were either given as gifts or destroyed in moves, his prized piece, The Ant, remains protected (as it’s an insect he pays great reverence to.)
“The ant is the best one because all the animals are smaller than life size and I made the ant bigger than life size because they’re the best.” —M.N.
about
the
artist
the
artist
Marcelo Nawar has called many places home from Austin, Texas to Santa Cruz, to Washington D.C. (where he was born and raised). He now resides in San Francisco, California where he works as a line cook for Mister Jiu’s, a contemporary Chinese-American restaurant located in S.F.’s historic Chinatown. Much of his inspiration for creating, whether food or art, comes from his fascination with nature, ancient practices, and playful surrealism.