Cattelans Banana – Eating It

Cattelans Banana – Eating It, by Liam Sweeny.

A banana. Some duct tape. A wall in an art gallery. A take on global trade and comedy? Maybe? Or maybe just a snack to a hungry South Korean student.

You may have heard of Maurizio Cattelan, the artist responsible for a 24 karat gold toilet seat and a middle finger that presided over Milan’s stock exchange. But you may know him more for his prize piece, “Comedian,” a work of art consisting of a banana taped to a wall. You may also have heard that it went for $120,000? Well, it got eaten.

Korean student Noh Huyn-soo skipped breakfast, arguably the most important meal of the day. So when he got to the gallery, he was starved. How starved do you have to be to eat a banana taped to a wall? Pretty starved. Just for your comfort and sensibilities, this banana gets replaced every two or three days; he wasn’t eating something that looked like the Crypt Keeper. But he ate it to the shock and perhaps amusement of anyone who declared the work ‘art’ and not a sophisticated practical joke.

He didn’t get in trouble. Neither did performance artist David Datuna, who chowed down on one in 2019. Cattelan, in response to this, had no response to this, which is what you would expect from a guy who gets paid $120,000 for something he could’ve put together from the self-checkout of a supermarket. He’s getting paid; what does he care? And another copy of it is going for $150,000.

Look, I’m not saying this isn’t art. I’m a weirdo like that; this is art. But I’ll be damned if it’s worth $120,000. It’s Cattalen. He’s been blessed by the artistic cognoscenti and he could wipe his tuchus on a wall and pick up half a mil. Meanwhile there are artists painting in their own blood pulling a grand for a 18×24.

Last bit. Noh Huyn-soo considered his eating of the artwork to be artwork itself. So excuse me as I blow a Picasso into my hanky.

More from Liam Sweeny.