Art Basel is currently taking place and Miami, and one of the most noteworthy moments was an art piece of a banana that was duct-taped to a wall selling for a total of $120,000. Now that very banana has been eaten by performance artist David Datuna.
The art piece, which was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan started to make headlines after the selling price was revealed. However, on Saturday Datuna made a visit to see the piece and decided to take it off the wall and eat it.
He posted the video of himself eating it to his social media and said in the caption, “Hungry Artist” art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork and I really love this installation, It’s very delicious.”
According to TMZ, they spoke with Datuna after the incident, and he told them he was escorted to a private room where he was met by police and they took his information. He was not arrested or cited as of now.
However, he reportedly told the site he could possibly face charges at a later date.
Some people are confused about whether the piece is still worth the $120,000 that it was sold for after the banana had been eaten. However, the “idea” of the piece is the actual art, and according to the Miami Herald, the owners of the piece were provided with a Certificate of Authenticity, and they were told that the banana can be replaced as needed.
Lucien Terras, director of museum relations for Galerie Perrotin, the place where the piece was on display, said, “He did not destroy the artwork. The banana is the idea.”
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