An art student from Seoul National University recently made headlines when they removed a piece of artwork, a banana duct-taped to a wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, from the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, and ate it. The artwork, entitled “Comedian,” had gained significant attention when it sold for $120,000 at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. The piece is part of Cattelan’s current solo exhibition at the museum and is regularly swapped out every two to three days. The museum stated that the student ate the banana because they were hungry and that Cattelan was informed of the incident but did not have a reaction.
This is not the first time that “Comedian” has been the subject of controversy. In 2019, performance artist David Datuna removed the banana on display at the Perrotin gallery at Art Basel in Miami and ate it, calling it an art performance and not an act of vandalism. The artwork is also embroiled in a copyright battle, with an artist from California alleging that Cattelan plagiarized his own artwork titled “Banana & Orange.”
Cattelan is known for his satirical pieces that challenge popular culture and provoke debates around conceptual art. He has created other viral artworks, including a solid 18-carat gold toilet valued at around $6 million, which was installed at the Guggenheim in 2016 and later stolen from Bleinheim Palace in England in 2019.
