A visitor to a French museum bit into a fresh banana worth millions of dollars taped to a wall last week, exhibitors said on Friday, July 18, in the latest such consumption of the conceptual artwork. After the hungry visitor struck on Saturday last week, « security staff rapidly and calmly intervened, » the Pompidou-Metz museum in eastern France said. The work was « reinstalled within minutes, » it added. « As the fruit is perishable, it is regularly replaced according to instructions from the artist. »
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan – whose provocative creation entitled « Comedian » was bought for $6.2 million in New York last year – said he was disappointed the person did not also eat the skin and the tape. Cattelan noted the banana-eater had « confused the fruit for the work of art. »
« Instead of eating the banana with its skin and duct tape, the visitor just consumed the fruit, » he said.
Cattelan’s edible creation has sparked controversy ever since it made its debut at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach. He has explained the banana work as a commentary on the art market, which he has criticized in the past for being speculative and failing to help artists.
It has been eaten before. Performance artist David Datuna ate « Comedian » in 2019, saying he felt « hungry » while inspecting it at the Miami show.
Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun last year forked out $6.2 million for the work, then ate it in front of cameras.
As well as his banana work, Cattelan is also known for producing an 18-carat, fully functioning gold toilet called « America » that was offered to Donald Trump during his first term in the White House. A British court in March found two men guilty of stealing it during an exhibition in 2020 in the United Kingdom, from an 18th-century stately home that was the birthplace of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. It was split up into parts and none of the gold was ever recovered.
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