Fruit Man

Fruit Man, “Survival on Succulence Alone.” Black Rock City aka Burning Man 2005 and 2006. Performance and Installation. Hybrid Blue Bicycle, hand-made two-wheeled bike cart, fruit, spices, sun tea, large platter, cuisinart knife, cotton white clothes, large straw hat with plastic pineapple crown, megaphone, bell.

The Myth of Fruit Man. A 12th Generation Lineage holder of the Spontaneous Enlightenment by Fruit School of the Primordial Seed, Fruit Man trained in orchards and cool groves around the world, achieving his own spontaneous awakening in the Banana orchards near KodaiKanal in Tamil Nadu, India while observing a banana tree dissection while a zen meditation retreat topped with a christian cross on a hill top in the background was gradually consumed by a streaming cloud of rising mist. As if that run-on sentence were not enough, he is forever at work on a FRUIT MAN: AN Illustrated Guide to Fruit Sushi that includes precise recipes, meditation instructions, remedies for turning dystopic circumstances into the dusted spice of fruit sashimi and beautiful line work that penetrates the lush cell walls of even the profound guava. This eternally unfinished work ensures he will return life after life to the human realm in service to deep taste. For the poem that inspired Fruit Man, go to the bottom of the page.

Documentation. Fruit Man, “Surviving on Succulence Alone,” is a character and project I developed for burning man and first performed throughout the week-long festival in 2005 and 2006. Fruit Man continues to appear in small ways with gifts of fruit on formal and informal occasions. The idea of bringing fruit to the desert was born in 2001 when our car broke down in Utah returning from Burning Man. In the midst of the desert town where we waited on repairs, I happened on a river bed abundant with fruit trees. How marvelous this tonic, this magic of ripeness in what seemed a barren place! I wrote the lines shared at the bottom of this page. Here is the fuller story:

Fruit Man is modeled loosely on the Milk Man and influenced by the tea peddlers in Asia who pile their wares in massive bulks and unload them into makeshift temporary cafes. I envisioned and prepared him to have a daily regular round, delivering his delicacies to the denizens of Black Rock. The first year, I outfitted a shopping cart with a chopping block, various knives and miscellaneous performative cutting tools, a massive fruit service tray, small portable folding stools, a cache of fruits and spices and toothpicks for easy eating. The second year, I greatly increased my range and travel ease by constructing a wooden bike cart with rope hitch that easily ported the wares on the back of my blue bikehorse. With the help of Aimee Baldwin, craft genius, I transformed a ten gallon hat into a fruit beacon with plastic pineapple, grape, apple & pear facsimiles and pipe cleaners. I wore a white sarong, a button down white shirt with sleeves cut off, a leather and white tooth African choker and bicep strap, a handy man belt and started with a few Mardi gras beads that, through gifting, expanded every day till I was a full living necklace gallery.

Year One, the shopping cart, being slow and a bit clumsy, invited intimacy. I quickly realized I was not going to have a regular round as this would greatly limit exposure. A squadron of Fruit Purveyors would be needed. Instead, each day I chose a different direction and let the cards fall. I “invaded” many camps, like a spontaneous one man circus busker bent on hosting mini-fruit bacchanals. Fruit Man quickly evolved from a basic delivery service into a hyperbolic succulence master– part nomad sand pirate, part trickster Montessori fruit sushi chef, part vipassana meditation instructor inviting the full enjoyment of taste nuance arising and passing.

The second year, with the bike and cart evolution, I was able to venture far out onto the playa and set up shop in inbetween spaces, eventually settling in at the Starf$ckers Oasis on the distant periphery. I finessed highly refined fruit specialties I’d developed over the two years: avocado sprinkled with lime, salt & cayenne on top of a slice of cucumber; Meyer lemon and red apple with ginger and maple syrup; cantaloupe with coconut shreds drizzled with honey; perfect sashimi cuts of watermelon & pineapple; and so forth. I also traveled with desert sun tea and a five gallon tank of water to whet the whistle of people running dry.

“Surviving on Succulence Alone” became my tag, my mantra, my battle cry. The craziest thing: People had many profound experiences as they received the invitation to fully experience the indescribable taste of pineapple in the middle of a desert thirst trap. Burning Man being Burning Man, people offered me all kinds of gifts– including a dangerous amount of magic mushrooms which i had to again and again offload for concern I’d be undermined. For magic mushrooms are but a spice in the great unfolding of fruit blooming over tongue.

Beyond the Playa, Fruit Man emerged at tiny oases at dense NYC events and became an inner archetype for the gift, the seal of wisdom.

May all beings experience these rare and ordinary sublime fruit!

an excerpt from….

Another Series of Manifestos About Fruit

for CSD

driving backroads of the desert

through towns named Bland and Rifle

we reach a river bed laden with

fruit–plum trees, clementines,

blueberries, iridescent cherry

stems nectaring with taste

“FRUIT MAN

FRUIT MAN

Get your fresh fruit

O fruit

You can survive on these

strange succulent fruit”

he wears a massive straw hat

topped with a neon pineapple

and flowing white robes

“FRUIT MAN

FRUIT MAN

Get your fresh fruit

O fruit

You can survive on these

strange succulent fruit”

he has peaches bananas honey apples

sweet apricots pomegranates

dipped in grand marnier*

starfruit jackfruit

dare you durian

pineapple freshly sliced

with shaves of coconut

“FRUIT MAN

FRUIT MAN

Get your fresh fruit

O fruit

You can survive on these

strange succulent fruit”

melons papayas heaps of

strawberries kiwis oranges

avocados strange otherworldly

delicacies hands stained with

juice

He emerges from our minds

already working the dust

he has a very sharp knife

and is

ready for you

“FRUIT MAN

FRUIT MAN

Get your fresh fruit

O fruit

You can survive on these

strange succulent fruit”