Maurizio Cattelan, the Italian artist known for his provocative installations, created a duct-taped banana artwork titled “Comedian.” The piece has been displayed in various locations and previously sold for $120,000.
However, during a recent exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, a South Korean college student named Noh Huyn-soo felt the basic impulse of hunger and decided to eat the banana after skipping breakfast.
The act of consuming the artwork took Noh only a minute, and he even reattached the peel to its original spot on the wall. When asked about his action, Noh stated that he was hungry and questioned whether the banana was meant to be eaten.
He even suggested that his actions might qualify as art, transforming Cattelan’s work and putting it back on display.
Museum workers restored the artwork by installing a new banana, and the museum stated that they will not pursue Noh for any damages.
In fact, when the artist was told about the purloined banana, he replied that it was not a problem.
The incident with Noh is not the first time that Cattelan’s banana artwork has been eaten. Another artist famously consumed the piece at Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2019 and proclaimed his act as a work of art. Cattelan’s other notable artwork includes a fully functional toilet cast in 18-karat gold, which was stolen from England’s Blenheim Palace in 2019 and has yet to be recovered.