A Banksy good enough to eat? Such is the work of American artist Harley Langberg, who turns blank white plates into graphic canvases using intricately cut scraps of fruits, vegetables, and other food products to recreate famous works of art.
As reported by Complex, Langberg’s latest muse has been the anonymous British graffiti artist, but he has also drawn on classic paintings by the likes of Edvard Munch, Grant Wood, and Andrew Wyeth for inspiration.
“I am not only creating art,” the artist explains on his website. “I am also trying to promote the beauty and diversity of all of the various fruits and vegetables in the world in the hopes to encourage people to try new things.”
In order to bring Banksy from the streets to the kitchen, Langberg sticks largely to eggplant, as its dark, matte surface is an excellent stand-in for the street artist’s preferred medium, black stencils. When basing his work off artists with less restricted color palettes, Langberg gets more creative, incorporating such varied ingredients as pasta, candy, potatoes, and icing.
Though the delicate world of refined cuisine seems far removed from Banksy’s gritty work in the streets, Langberg’s creations may actually be more enduring than the original murals, which lately have been getting painted over and snapped up by art dealers (see “Immigration-Themed Banksy Mural Destroyed by Local Council” and “Nobody’s Buying New York City Banksy Works“) in less time than it takes to roast an eggplant.