This might be the strangest food story we’ve ever covered. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan (best known for his functioning solid gold toilet sculpture) brought his latest work titled “The Comedian” to Art Basel Miami.

The piece was a banana duct-taped to the wall. Yes. A real, fresh, banana stuck to a wall with a piece of duct-tape. And it became a sensation. Miami Beach Police were even called in to maintain order.

That’s “weird” you might say… well it gets weirder. The piece is part of an edition of three. Two of those three have now sold – with one going for $120,000. The third and final was projected to fetch $150,000!

Then performance artist David Datuna walked up to the piece, grabbed the banana, and ate it.


The Perrotin gallery promptly replaced the banana and “The Comedian” was ready to greet once again. The piece comes with no implicit instructions for when bananas start to decompose. Though the Miami Herald reports that owners can replace the banana when needed.

Cattelan worked through various iterations of the sculpture over the past year producing versions in resin and bronze. Where did he get the idea? He always travels with bananas and hangs them in his hotel room for inspiration.