That was a terrible pun.
I’m sorry! But I’ve been so good up until now.
Well, go on.
Then things got really crazy! To quote Gwen Stefani, “This sh*t is—”
Stop.
Let me live!
I just want to learn what happened next.
Ugh, fine. So on Saturday, when the fair was at its most crowded, a man came up and ate the banana. Real casual like. Just went up, grabbed the fruit off the wall, and took a big bite.
It wasn’t some random passerby but performance artist David Datuna. He explained his actions on Instagram: “Art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan artwork and I really love this installation. It’s very delicious.”
Why...did he eat the banana?
I have no idea. So I called him and asked. “It was a big question mark for all of us—can this banana be an artwork?” he told me. “The same thing with Duchamp 100 years ago. With my performance, I put my question mark after his question mark. This is just a game between two artists.”
And yes, he ate the banana. But also: “Conceptually, I ate the concept of the banana.”
What did the banana—or the concept of the banana—taste like?
“It tasted like $120,000,” Datuna says. “It was delicious.”
Did Cattelan and Datuna plan this together?
Nope, Datuna tells me. “We’ve never talked. We’ve never met. I really respect him. He’s a genius.“
So was that the end of the banana?
The gallery replaced it after that incident. But they took it down for good on Sunday. “The crowds surrounding the installation posed a serious health and safety risk, as well as an access issue, so the work was removed,” Art Basel said in a statement, according to the New York Times.
What a crazy end to this saga.
But the banana lives on! Galerie Perrotin launched a social media account dedicated to Comedian, complete with many memes. There’s even a Baby Yoda banana crossover!
Well, thank you for explaining this to me. I’m going to close out of this window now.
You’re welcome. Hope it was...fruitful.
