Six empty Diet Mountain Dew (DMD) cans form a moveable exhibit and homage called “Nectar of the Gods,” which is exhibited on the ThirdEdNovak Instagram. [Diet Mountain Dew is the nectar of the gods. Presumably you are among the millions of people who have already come to this conclusion.]

The artform, described as a sculpture, is a celebration of the refreshing virtues of DMD as well as the beauty of our nation’s capital region. Each photograph is tagged for location and is accompanied by a relevant saying, quote, or observation.

The exhibit travels with me in a green nylon backpack around the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. In several ways, the DMD sculpture is the perfect tourist – visiting iconic and/or historic attractions in the DMV while cleaning up after itself.

You can visit the exhibit and follow its expansion on Instagram using the hashtag #dmddmv. You can also join the “Nectar of the Gods” celebration by listening to a unique cover version of Lana Del Rey’s “Diet Mountain Dew” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G9xsBC_uLno

To date, the Nectar of the Gods exhibit has traveled to more than 300 locations in the DMV, with a goal of posting 400 photos and videos by the end of 2022, which will mark the completion of the exhibit.

NOTE: I began to deny the pleasures of Diet Mountain Dew to the madman Putin, starting with Nectar of the Gods No. 189, following the invasion of Ukraine. Beginning with Nectar of the Gods No. 227, Supreme Court Samuel Alito was also barred from DMD following the leak of his draft of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which denied women the right to control their own health and bodies. Art and artists do not reside in a bubble separated from the events of the world around them. To celebrate something so absurd as Diet Mountain Dew without recognizing some very real horrors around us is living in denial.

[Artist’s Note: I recognize that not everyone appreciates the color of Diet Mountain Dew, its caffeine content, cloying taste, aspartame, or sexiness. Those people are philistines who probably prefer Mello Yello Zero, which tastes like DMD mixed with your own urine.]