Gaku, Master of Fruit and Vegetable Sculpture

To create his sculptures, Gaku (real name Takehiro Kishimoto) eschews marble and wood in favour of bananas, avocados, kiwis and broccoli.

Armed with a set of knives, he revisits the ancient practice of mukimono (literally ‘peeled thing’ in Japanese).

A race against fruit oxidation

By digging into the flesh of fruits and vegetables and playing with the texture of their skin, he produces complex geometric patterns, often inspired by Japanese traditions.

This art, which is celebrated in Thai culture and became popular in Japan in the 17th century, involves a race against time with every piece: the sculpture has to be finished before the fruit begins to rot. For a long time, mukimono featured flower, bird and dragon motifs, but Gaku draws inspiration from very different sources, as evidenced by his One Piece-aubergine and Dragon Ball Z-banana. This painstaking tradition recalls that of sugar sculpture, amezaiku, very popular in the 19th century.

Gaku’s work can be found on his Instagram account.