Raku Inoue is a talented Canadian artist who specializes in carefully arranging flower petals, leaves, and other plant parts to recreate pop culture characters, animals, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
Inoue’s journey into painstaking floral art began one windy day in 2017. He was in his Montreal home watching the strong wind shake dozens of pink petals from a rose bush in his backyard. Seeing these beautiful, delicate petals on the ground, he thought to himself “What a waste!” and went to pick them up. Looking at his ephemeral haul, the Japanese-born artist came up with the idea to actually use the petals to create art. He arranged them in the shape of a beetle with small twigs for legs, and his little project turned out so well that he kept at it. Today, Raku Inoue is famous for his impressive portfolio of plant art, which includes original recreations of popular characters like Super Mario or Godzilla, various insects and animals, and even brand logos.
“Each year, I look forward to when certain flowers bloom and plants sprout. And each year, I love seeing the trees’ leaves turning red, slowly engulfing the horizon,” Inoue told My Modern Met. “Each season has something to offer and for those that can appreciate even the tiniest aspect of it, will perceive all of their glory.”
After that very first floral artwork, the talented artist started incorporating seeds, leaves, and other plant parts into his designs, and he got better at arranging them with each passing day. Soon, he was able to recreate all sorts of insects, then he moved on to realistic-looking animals like tigers and monkeys, and iconic characters like Nintendo’s Super Mario and Peach.
After spending hours, sometimes days, arranging all these plant parts into intricate shapes, Raku Inoue immortalizes his designs through photography and then usually tosses them all into a compost bin. The ephemerality of his art is one of its main characteristics, but one that he has learned to appreciate over time.
“In my opinion, this also adds to the preciousness of these materials,” Inoue said.
For more impressive floral art, check out the works of Nguyen Thi Thu, a Vietnamese artist who sculpts realistic flowers out of papaya fruits, or the award-winning sugar flowers of Michelle Nguyen.
