The biggest news to come out of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2019 was undoubtedly the $120,000 “art banana.”
The work of art-gone-viral, titled “Comedian” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, is comprised of a real banana affixed to a wall with a piece of duct tape. Created in a limited edition of three, the work has been the talk of the art world and even landed on the cover of The New York Post on Dec. 6, with the headline “Bananas.” With crowds teeming to see the work at Galerie Perrotin’s booth, the pricy piece of fruit made headlines once again on Dec. 7, after performance artist David Datuna pulled the banana off the wall, peeled it and stunningly ate it in plain sight.
How to interpret the meaning of the banana? Perrotin, which represents the artist, pontificated that “this piece offers insight into how we assign worth and what kind of objects we value.”
The Internet, however, had some other ideas — most poignantly in meme form.
Celebrities and brands were quick to get in on the viral topic. Brooke Shields, for one posted a selfie with a banana duct taped to her forehead on her Instagram account. French fashion brand, Jacquemus, created
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