A Performance Artist Eats Rs 85 Lakh Duct-Taped Banana

This duct-taped banana is actually an artwork called “Comedian” by famous Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. The artwork has been displayed at Art Basel Miami since December 4. The piece off art has garnered public attention. Both of its first and second editions have been sold for thousands of dollars.

Among three editions of the artwork, two were sold for $120,000 for collectors from France. The last edition is said to have a higher price, at $150,000 and will be sold to a museum. Each edition will have an authenticity certificate and a direction for replacement.

When being asked about the meaning of this unique artwork, Cattelan explained that the banana was just a banana.

Cattelan is an artist whose works challenge popular culture. One of his famous artworks is an 18-karat gold toilet which is worth around $6 million. The toilet was stolen from the Bleinheim Palace, UK last September.

Back to the banana artwork, when being displayed at the Art Basel Miami art show, this piece of artwork from Cattelan was eaten by a visitor.

According to CBS News, a man headed to the display area, casually removed the banana from the wall, and ate it in front of other visitors.

The man was later identified as David Datuna, a performance artist from Georgia currently living in New York. Datuna then uploaded the footage in which he destroyed the expensive artwork on his Instagram and received thousands of comments from social media users.

In another video, the manager of the show could be seen asking Datuna to go to another place for questioning. The staff working there then replaced the eaten banana with another one.

CBS News reported that no legal action against Datuna was taken. The director of public relations at the Lucien Terra Museum said that Datuna didn’t intentionally destroy the artwork. He also said that the real value of this artwork is the certificate of authenticity from Maurizio Cattelan.