Student eats $120,000 Italian artwork of banana duct taped to wall

‘Isn’t it taped there to be eaten?’ asks student

Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian on display at Art Basel Miami 2019 (Getty Images)

A student who ate a $120,000 artwork consisting of a banana taped to a wall said he was hungry after skipping breakfast.

Comedian, by Maurizio Cattelan, was on display in Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art as part of an exhibition by the Italian artist.

Noh Huyn-soo, a college student from Seoul National University, took the banana off the wall and ate it before reattaching the peel to the wall using the same tape.

Asked by musem authorities about his actions, he said he had skipped breakfast and was hungry.

Later, in an interview with local broadcaster KBS, the student said that “damaging a work of modern art could also be (interpreted as a kind of) artwork.”

South Korean student seen eating iconic artwork ‘Comedian'

“Isn’t it taped there to be eaten?”

The fruit is replaced every two to three days on the direction of Mr Cattelan, who reportedly said there was “no problem at all” over the incident.

The artwork has been eaten before. In 2019, performance artist David Datuna ate the banana after Comedian sold for $120,000 (£95,600) at Art Basel in Miami.

He later used Instagram to talk about the incident.

“I really love this installation. It’s very delicious,” he said.

Mr Datuna also defended his decision to eat the installation by calling it art performance and not an act of vandalism.