‘This is an art performance!’ Banana bandit EATS $120,000 art installation

‘This is an art performance!’ Banana bandit EATS 0,000 art installation

A New York-based performance artist strode into a Miami art gallery and ate a banana. The banana, however, was a piece of art, and the slightly overripe fruit was worth a whopping $120,000.

Entitled ‘Comedian,’ the art installation consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall, and was on display at Art Basel Miami in an exhibition run by contemporary art gallery Perrotin. According to Artnet, two of three editions have already been sold to two French collectors with the third now priced at $150,000, which will be sold to a museum.

This happened and here’s the video: someone ripped the Maurizio Cattelan banana off the wall at @ArtBasel and ATE IT ? pic.twitter.com/JOL41jLoeY

— JiaJia Fei 费嘉菁 (@VAJIAJIA) December 7, 2019

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Peeling the banana off the wall, artist David Datuna declared “This is an art performance,” before devouring the fruit in front of a crowd. 

Datuna’s act of desecration was not equivalent to eating the Mona Lisa. Gallery staff simply replaced the banana with another. Buyers have been given a ‘certificate of authenticity’ to prove that their banana, even if it came from a grocery store, is indeed art, and worth the $120,000 price tag.