While others would likely toss banana peels away, the Dutch former graphic designer sees them as a blank canvas for “fruit doodles” – intricately detailed drawings done with toothpicks, a knife and ballpoint pen.
Brusche began his foray into banana art six years ago, almost by accident. Encouraged to use Instagram by his wife but unsure what to post, he came across an abandoned banana in his office and decided to draw a smiley face on it.
From those humble beginnings, Brusche has transformed his personal brand into iSteef, an Instagram account with more than 70,000 followers.
He draws figures from popular culture (hello, Banana Marilyn), animals and quirky cartoon characters – even the more pared-back designs are injected with a sense of heart and humour, because, after all, they’re bananas.
While others would likely toss banana peels away, the Dutch former graphic designer sees them as a blank canvas for “fruit doodles” – intricately detailed drawings done with toothpicks, a knife and ballpoint pen.
In an interview with Buzzfeed News, Brusche explains that surprisingly, “banana peels are pretty excellent to draw on with a ballpoint pen. It just flows across the banana”.
He’s since gone on to quit his job as a graphic designer in order to pursue iSteef full time.
While Brusche may be the first one to trademark his ‘fruit-doodling’ tendencies, he’s certainly not the only artist out there using fruit as a medium.
Remember Edgar Artis, the Armenian fashion student creating stunning illustrations out of watermelon slices and mandarin sections?
Or Hazel Zakariya, the “smoothie bowl artist” using fruit and flowers to ‘draw’ gallery-worthy renderings of animals, movie characters and famous artworks?
Here are a few more of our favourite fruit artists:
Daniela Barresi, a Sydney-based Italian carving baroque masterpieces into avocados and watermelons.
Instagram account Mundane Matters, AKA Danling Xiao, turning the everyday into the extraordinary with serious sculpture skills and clever photography.
And, finally, Gaku, the Japanese artist who is better at carving fruits and vegetables than most people are at eating them.
Brusche and the rest of these food artists are a testament to thinking outside the box.
The next time you’re feeling inspired, take a walk down to your nearest fruit and veg aisle – who knows what you could create?
