Artist eats banana taped to wall in £100,000 installation

If you had bought an overripe banana for almost £100,000 and someone came along and started eating it, you would probably be pretty annoyed.

Many may ask why one would consider splashing that much cash on a piece of fruit you could buy for less than £1 in Tesco – but this was all in the name of art.

This week, at the Art Basel Miami – the most well-established art show in the Americas – pioneer Maurizio Cattelan stole the show with his work of a spotty banana duct-taped to a blank wall.

His piece titled ‘Comedian’ quickly became the most talked about of the whole event after quickly selling two pieces for $120,000 (£91,164).

But much to the surprise of shocked bystanders, fellow artist David Datuna removed the extortionately-priced banana from the wall, unpeeled it and took a bite.

A large crowd filmed it in awe on their phones as Mr Datuna continued to munch on potentially the most expensive banana in the world.

‘I respect Maurizio but it’s art performance. Hungry artist,’ he said. ‘You have more? $150,000, tasting good,’ he joked.

As he goes to take his last bite, an onlooker says: ‘Last one, that’s 10 grand right there’.

Mr Durant asks the audience for a tissue, before someone hands him one. He then wipes his mouth and puts his arms in the air, proclaiming: ‘Very tasty’.

An outraged woman, who is thought to work for the gallery, quickly approaches him asking: ‘Are you kidding? Did you really do this?’

She is seen shaking her head as he insists: ‘It’s performance’, to which the woman argues back that it’s not before leading him away.

The bananas had been bought at a local grocery store and no instructions were given on what to do as the banana continues to ripen. But buyers didn’t have to make that decision after Mr Datuna’s stunt.

Gallery founder Emmanuel Perrotin had said earlier this week that ‘Maurizio’s work is not just about objects, but about how objects move through the world.’

He originally hailed the artwork as ‘a symbol of global trade, a double entendre, as well as a classic device for humour’.

Prior to the feast, the Paris-based Perrotin gallery had raised the price to $150,000 (£113,931) for Mr Cattelan’s third piece, which is set to be sold to a museum.

Earlier this year, Mr Cattelan was the subject of world headlines when his solid gold toilet was stolen from Blenheim Palace, which was installed for an art exhibition at Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

The 18-carat throne, valued at 4.8 million, has still not been recovered and police enquiries are thought to be ongoing.