Japan is no stranger to things that are strange, but Keisuke Yamada has taken art to a pretty goofy place. Bananas. Countless Japanese schoolgirls have made a hobby out of creating creatures out of food for their bento-boxes, but never before has someone taken banana art to such a level as this. Regardless of how you feel about bananas as a fruit, some of these sculptures have to be seen to be believed.
How Is This a Thing?
This art is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
It began when I peeled a banana and thought it might be interesting to carve a face into the fruit.
To create these fruity masterpieces, the only tools Keisuke uses are bananas, toothpicks, and a spoon. He uses the spoon to prime the banana by smoothing its surface and then does the majority of the actual sculpt work with toothpicks. He also mentions that each of his sculptures is completed within 30 minutes. If he takes too long, the banana will begin to brown and the sculpture will be ruined. After finishing each creation, he takes pictures of them to upload on the Japanese art site Pixiv. And after that, he eats them.
Behold! The fabled potassium breathing dragon of legend.
Keisuke Yamada: humble electrician by day – banana sculpting magician by night. At 24 years old, he’s practically a banana superhero. Keisuke has also gained a strong number of followers online and says he gets new ideas and inspiration from his fans on a regular basis.
The first one was the face of someone with a smile. I was surprised by how many people liked it so then I just started making more.
Keisuke’s strange hobby has snowballed into a full-blown internet sensation. And from the looks of things, he couldn’t be happier.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgQZCKtB2fY’]
In the above video they introduce Keisuke to the audience and describe the process he follows to sculpt his mighty banana creations. The audience seems pretty impressed. He also creates a “self portrait” as well as Zippei, NTV’s doggie mascot.
Posted below are some of my favorites from Keisuke but a complete gallery of his work can be found here on his Pixiv page.
Le royal wedding.
OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!
All he needs now is a banana hammock.
D’oh!
The mighty banana god himself.
Keisuke says he looks forward to making many more sculptures in the future and I for one look forward to seeing them.
So, is this banana boy a real artist or are these mini-sculptures but a mere hobby? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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