Banana Sculptor Yamada

Bananas... healthy, comedic and now artful… or perhaps a combination of all three.

Meet Yamada Keisuke (surname first) a Japanese fellow who uses fresh bananas as his artistic medium… that is to say, he creates sculptures from bananas.

Mmmmm... bananas... bursting from my chest!

Banana sculptures? Sure… why not?

At least Yamada doesn't waste his talent or his art.

I tried to sculpt two bananas at lunch - both looked like a penis. I couldn't eat them, however, out of artistic principle.

In his own words, Yamada says: "It began when I peeled a banana and thought it might be interesting to carve a face into the fruit."

Okay… that's interesting… he was inspired by the fruit rather than being an artist sitting around looking for a medium to make him different.

"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," he adds here for the last time.

Poseidon and a whole bunch of water polo ponies.

To create these tasty works of art, the 24-year-old Yamada-san needs only a banana, toothpicks and a spoon.

Apparently Yamada uses the spoon to ready the banana… prime it, if you will, by smoothing the surface.

Okay. I had no idea a banana was rough, but what the hell do I know? I'm not an artiste.

Next, using toothpicks, he sculpts away, completing his bananart (my newly created word) in a mere 30 minutes or less.

Dragon fruit?

And… just like for myself, he hates that brown banana look, so Yamada has to work quickly, take photographs of them, and then eat them.

It sounds like a healthy diet of kitsch and potassium.

Anyhow, despite his artistic talents for fruit salad surgery, since Yamada tends to eat his art rather than varnish it and sell it to someone crazed fanboy collector, he needs to make money, spending his days as an electrician. I know… I'm shocked he isn't making bananart all the time. Certainly there is an appeal to his skill set…

Looks like he peeled a banana and created a man with his skin peeled away.

Since I'm writing about bananart, others have also discovered him (up to two years earlier!), and he has become a bit of an Internet sensation, along with cats doing funny things and babies doing cute things.

Yeesh… thank goodness for Yamada!

Here's a YOU TUBE video of him where he shows us how he creates his bananart:

And, if that whets your appetite for more, check out his Pixiv page where he posts pictures of all his creations: BANANART.

I could make a penis-joke about how Darth has a helmet head, but I won't do that. The force is strong with this one.

And… to quote the immortal Groucho Marx: "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

Bon appetite,
Andrew Joseph