Stefan Sagmeister's Banana Wall, Years Before Banana Art

Over a decade before a cheeky artist duct taped a banana to a wall, Stefan Sagmeister showed much more artistry with the same medium.

Using 10,000 unripe bananas, he spelled out the title “Self-confidence produces fine results”, with the greenest of the bananas.

The wall was then left to ripen over the coming days, in which it got dramatically more ripe, dark, and aromatic.

The Austrian designer is long known for his rule-breaking, fascinating art, and this project back in 2008 was no different.

Even better, no one purchased this wall for millions of dollars.

Images © Copyright Stefan Sagmeister.

Sagmeister's wall of 10,000 bananas at Deitch Projects, its message spelled in ripening fruit

Stefan Sagmeister's banana installation — a large-scale public artwork by the renowned graphic designer using real bananas arranged to create a striking visual statement, predating the viral moment when banana-based art entered mainstream cultural conversation and demonstrating Sagmeister's long-standing interest in unexpected everyday materials as artistic media

The banana wall up close - rows of fruit pinned in precise gradients

At the opening of our exhibition at Deitch Projects in New York we featured a wall of 10,000 bananas. Green bananas created a pattern against a background of yellow bananas spelling out the sentiment: Self-confidence produces fine results.

After a number of days the green bananas turned yellow too and the type disappeared. When the yellow background bananas turned brown, the type (and the self-confidence) appeared again, only to go away when all bananas turned brown.