Man Eats $120,000 Banana Taped to Wall at Art Basel Miami

4 年前

Georgian-born artist David Datuna shocked onlookers at Art Basel Miami when he took down an art installation — a banana taped to a wall — and ate it on December 7.

The banana was one of three in a piece titled “Comedian” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, each of which sold for between $120,000 and $150,000. Cattelan became widely known for his gold-plated toilet titled “America.”

However, the art was not destroyed by being eaten. Lucien Terras, the director of museum relations for Galerie Perrotin, told the Miami Herald that "the banana is the idea.” The value of the art is in its certificate of authenticity, reports said, meaning the owners can replace the banana. The banana Datuna ate was already showing brown spots of decay.

Datuna posted video, filmed by Leonard Weiss, of himself eating the banana to his Instagram account with the caption, “‘Hungry Artist’ Art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan artwork and I really love this installation. It’s very delicious.” Credit: Leonard Weiss via Storyful