On Thursday, an art student from Seoul National University found it to be the latter, when he removed the fruit — an iconic work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — from off a wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea where it was displayed. Then he proceeded to devour it.
After chomping down the fruit, the South Korean student taped the peel back on to the wall. The peel was later replaced by the museum with a fresh banana. Cattelan is known for satirical pieces that challenge popular culture, often provoking debates around conceptual art.After the first edition of"Comedian" sold back in 2019, performance artist David Datuna unceremoniously plucked the banana on display at the Perrotin gallery at Art Basel in Miami and gobbled it up as stunned onlookers watched.
The artwork is also embroiled in a copyright battle. In 2022, Joe Morford, an artist from Glendale, California, alleged that Cattelan plagiarized his own 2000 artwork titled"Banana & Orange" — which sees the titular fruits affixed with duct tape onto painted green backgrounds on a wall.