In a good way, of course. If Steve Casino lived on a peanut farm, he could be a found-object artist. Steve paints tiny portraits of people he admires on peanuts. He picks the person he wants to depict, sifts through hundreds of nuts to find just the right one, cracks it open, remove the nuts, glues the two halves back together, smooths the front side of the peanut with wood filler, sands it with 300-grit sandpaper, adds legs and feet, paints it, and then adds arms and accessories. He leaves the backs of the peanuts unfinished upon the suggestion of his friend Steve Fink, for the sheer joy of seeing folks break out in smiles when he shows them the back first and then slowly turns it over to reveal the unexpected, detailed front.
Peanut James Brown’s humble beginnings:
James Brown complete:
Gotta love this video where Steve shows how he goes from plain peanut to finished product and his inspiration for making peanut art: “One day I was eating peanuts and I noticed one was sort of shaped like me.”
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