Banana Tattooing, an Increasingly Popular Art Form In The West

Up until a few years ago, people rarely looked at bananas as anything more than delicious fruits, let alone as an art medium. But that was before artists started taking advantage of the banana peel’s oxidation process to create amazing artworks. Today, more and more artists are becoming specialized in banana oxidation art, also known as banana tattooing.
Banana peel may seem like a strange canvas to some, but it’s also one that can yield some pretty impressive results. Case in point, the amazing artworks of End Cape, a young Japanese artist who specializes in bruising bananas. Using a sharp tool like a simple needle or a thumbtack, he spends up to five hours puncturing the peel of the tropical fruit and creating breathtaking masterpieces inspired by popular anime, traditional Japanese art and famous landmarks. The process is very similar to that used by regular tattoo artists, only without the paint. In contact with air, the bruised sections of the banana turn brown, revealing artist’s designs. Apparently, the colder the fruit is, the faster it oxidizes. By controlling the density of needle holes, End Cape is able to create different textures and shades of brown.

Although he only started uploading photos of his amazing banana tattoos to Twitter a few months ago, End Cape has already gained quite the online following, he’s been featured on television and he held an exhibition of his banana oxidation art at a gallery in Tokyo. I bet he’s patting himself on the shoulder for breaking his parents rule of not playing with his food.
End Cape’s banana tattoos are certainly unique and more complex than anything we’ve seen before, but he’s not the first artist to master the intriguing technique. Phil Hansen, Honey and Jun Gil Park are just some of the already established banana tattooists, and judging by the growing popularity of this art form, others are bound to follow. Oh, and I a,lost forgot about Keisuke Yamada, who specializes in banana sculpting.