Noh Hyun-soo, a student at Seoul National University, helped himself to an artwork called “Comedian,” which consisted of a banana that was duct-taped to the museum's wall. After he peeled and ate the banana, Noh pulled the tape back and put the now-empty peel back in its place.
Seoul National University art student Noh Hyun-soo removed the latter banana and ate it. Aesthetes and skeptics have been flocking to the Leeum Museum in the affluent Hannam neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea, since the “WE” exhibit opened in January.
June 12 (Reuters) - Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose banana taped to a wall at the Art Basel Miami art fair sold for $120,000 in 2019, on Monday defeated a copyright infringement lawsuit by a fellow conceptual artist who claimed Cattelan plagiarized his work.
A single banana duct-taped to a wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan intrigued some art aficionados while baffling others. The work's first edition apparently came from a local Miami supermarket and sold for $120,000 by Perrotin, an international art gallery, according to Artnet.com.
Last Thursday, Seoul university student Noh Huyn-soo made the bold choice to pluck the fruit off its wall at Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art and eat it. When he was finished, he restored the peel to its spot.
‘Hungry’ South Korean student eats banana from $120,000 artwork
Who bought the $120,000 banana?
Billy and Beatrice Cox told Page Six that they were inspired to buy the piece, titled Comedian, at Art Basel Miami after seeing the stir it created globally when it was displayed last week.
There were references to bananas from 600 BC when Buddhist scriptures, know as the Pali Canon, noted Indian traders travelling through the Malaysian region had tasted the fruit and brought plants back with them.
Sometimes a banana is just a banana. And sometimes, like the one duct-taped to a wall that sold for $120,000 this week, it's an expensive piece of art.
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's controversial art piece, “Comedian,” made headlines back in 2019 after being sold for $120,000, a hefty price for a piece that is, quite literally, just a banana and a strip of duct tape.
In 2019, an artwork called Comedian—which featured a banana taped to a wall—was all the rage. Created by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, the piece quickly went viral at Art Basel Miami Beach. Several versions of the piece eventually sold for over $100,000.
The artist Maurizio Cattelan — whose fruit pinned to the wall with gray duct tape was sold three times at Art Basel Miami, for $120,000 to $150,000 each time — and his gallery Perrotin announced on Sunday, the last day of the fair, that the banana had been removed from its booth because of the Mona Lisa-like attention ...
After chomping down the fruit, the student taped the peel back on to the wall. The peel was later replaced by the museum with a fresh banana. The aftermath of the incident. “It happened suddenly, so no special action was taken.
The artwork called "Comedian", part of Cattelan's exhibition "WE", consisted of a ripe banana duct-taped to a wall at Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art. After eating the banana, the student, Noh Huyn-soo, taped the peel to the wall. The museum later placed a new banana at the same spot, reported local media.
The banana duck taped to a wall was already attracting quite the attention on its own. However, it became the talk of the fair once David Datuna, a performance artist, walked up to the art piece and ate the banana worth 120 000 dollars! “It tasted like 120,000 dollars,” Datuna says. “It was delicious.”
A 2021 report by the Chicago Tribune found out 5 billion bananas - peels and all - are thrown out in the U.S. alone each year. When decomposing food ends up in landfills, it releases methane, a gas that is estimated to be 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide over 100 years.
Did you happen to chuck an overly spotty banana in your garbage can this morning? If so then it was among the estimated 1.4 million bananas that get wasted every day around the world.
The court found that the common expression of the two works, that of taping a banana to a wall with a single piece of tape to form an “X” shape was not protectable by copyright, since that expression merges with the concept of taping a banana to a wall.
What happens here is the tape blocks the escape of ethylene gas, the same gas that when released from the bananas into the air, causes them to ripen. By preventing its escape, you therefore keep your bananas fresh for longer. In fact, it's been shown to keep them yellow for a whole week if not more.
So let's consider the concept. “Back then, Cattelan was thinking of a sculpture that was shaped like a banana,” a statement from the gallery read, via CNN. “Every time he traveled, he brought a banana with him and hung it in his hotel room to find inspiration.
Created by Maurizio Cattelan, who is well-known for his humorous and satirical works, the work first appeared at Art Basel Miami Beach. Immediately, it caused controversy as many wondered how something like this – a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape – could be considered art.
In the 1950s, the 'Gros Michel' variety of banana was wiped out by Panama disease. The banana crop in some locations was basically eliminated by the disease of fusarium wilt, caused by a pathogen that enters the plant through the roots.
By 1965, the Gros Michel species of banana—which lasted longer, were more resilient, and didn't require artificial ripening—was eradicated after what was called the Panama disease, a different strain of a similar fungal disease wiped out the world's commercial banana plantations.
Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan told Insider that bananas sell consistently based on that affordability, plus their portability and nutritious makeup.