Rogue artist eats banana taped to gallery wall

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — If you ducttape a banana to a wall at a posh art gallery and slap a title on it, is it really art?

For the collector who paid an eye-popping US$120,000 last week for an Art Basel installation depicting just that, the answer is yes.

How about if you pull that pricey piece of fruit off the wall, peel it and eat it in front of a crowd of confused onlookers? Does that count as art, too?

Definitely, according to David Datuna, a New York-based performance artist who put his own, apparently unauthorized, spin on the installation that became a viral sensation after it went up at Galerie Perrotin in Miami Beach last week.

Titled Comedian, the piece by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan consisted of a single overripe banana duct-taped to a wall at the gallery. Starting Thursday, people flocked to the show to snap pictures of the curious installation, which drew a mix of bemusement, mockery and genuine interest as it made international headlines and popped up in the Instagram feeds of users around the world.

But on Saturday afternoon, in full view of a throng of Art Basel attendees, Datuna strolled up to the work, removed the taped banana from the wall and casually ate it.

The whole thing was captured on video. Some people laughed. Others sounded taken aback.

“It’s art performance,” Datuna said, grinning impishly as he nibbled on the fruit. “We respect Maurizio, but it’s art performance. Hungry Artist.”

Moments later, a gallery official arrived and confronted him. “Are you kidding? Did you really do that?” the woman asked. “Yes,” Datuna responded. “But it’s performance.”

“It’s not performance,” the official told him.

— TWITTER Artist Maurizio Cattelan poses with his US$120,000 work of art. Then somebody ate it.