Man Who Ate $120,000 Banana Art Installation Isn't Sorry
Show the world a piece of modern art, and it takes less than a New York minute for some guy to scream: "My kid could make that!" In this particular case, that dude may very well have a point: As CNN tells us, respected artist Maurizio Cattelan's $120,000 installation called "Comedian" was literally just an ordinary banana duct taped to a wall. It's not the most bizarre thing found in a museum, but it's up there.
Cattelan is no stranger to controversial pieces. After all, his other works include a crazy 18-karat golden toilet that, as the Guardian notes, is called "America." However, seeing as said golden toilet was stolen in 2019, the artist probably should have expected what happened to "Comedian:" One day, some guy just walked up and ate the delicious, delicious wall banana.
Another artist ate the $120,000 banana art installation
Entertaining as it is to think that some hungry gallery visitor just decided to snack on an exhibit, the truth is a lot more complicated. The man who ate the $120,000 banana is David Datuna (pictured), an artist known for various outrageous performances, such as erecting a S.O.S. flag in front of the White House before Donald Trump got elected and protesting against Vladimir Putin on Moscow's Red Square. Datuna Instagrammed his banana eating shenanigans as a performance art piece called "The Hungry Artist," and he's not sorry at all, as he says his actions weren't meant to demean Cattelan's work. On the contrary, he says that he's a huge fan, and was merely communicating with a colleague: "This is how artists talk with each other. We talk by art. This was his art and this was my performance." Art, ladies and gentlemen!
What about the man who made the $120,000 banana art installation?
The question is: Have we seen the last of it? When the "America" toilet was stolen, there were rumors that Maurizion Cattelan (pictured) staged the theft as part of the artwork. If so, is he in cahoots with Datuna as well? Was the Banana Incident a one-off, or is this just the beginning of a real and/or staged feud between two highly eccentric artists? Or will a third artist enter the arena and duct tape David Datuna to a wall, seeing as he self-admittedly ate the concept of "Comedian" and therefore is the concept of "Comedian" now? The world (or at least the parts of it that are invested in massively overpriced bananas) is holding its breath to find out.