Man who ate the $120,000 banana art installation says he isn't sorry and did it to create art

Man who ate the $120,000 banana art installation says he isn’t sorry and did it to create art

by Violet Bell



Written by By Alaa Elassar, CNN

When a banana that was duct taped to a wall offered for $120,000, not everyone comprehended the creative inspiration at the rear of the piece.

But one particular hungry artist did.

David Datuna, an set up and effectiveness artist from Ga, peeled off the art piece from the wall on Saturday and ate it while hundreds of surprised onlookers watched.

And he is much from apologetic.

“It was not vandalism, it was art effectiveness from me and completely I am not sorry,” Datuna explained for the duration of a push meeting on Monday.

The banana was a component of an exhibit by renowned Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s at Artwork Basel Miami Seashore. The piece was titled “Comic.” The artist is also identified for his $6 million 18-karat-gold rest room which was stolen from the Blenheim Palace before this calendar year.

Datuna termed Cattelan “a single of the top artists in the earth.” When asked how that was attainable if he ate his art, Datuna insisted that he did not think about the overall performance as defacing an additional artist’s work and even identified as the duct taped banana a genius thought.

“In this circumstance, it’s not like I ate artwork,” Datuna mentioned. “Like the gallery explained, it can be not a banana, it can be a principle. And I just ate the concept of the artist. So I believe this is cool, this is enjoyable, this is what artwork is about.”

The artist, who has lived in New York Metropolis for 22 years, is recognized for dramatic performances, these types of as an anti-Putin show in the Crimson Square in Moscow. Two months just before President Donald Trump was elected, Datuna installed an SOS American flag in entrance of the White Home.

The artist claimed he prepared to consume the banana early in the morning, even conserving his urge for food for his potassium crammed food of the working day.

“I call the performance, ‘Hungry Artist,’ simply because I was hungry and I just ate it,” Datuna explained.

“This is how artists talk with just about every other. We converse by artwork. This was his artwork and this was my performance.”

Even though many in the gallery ended up angered when he ate the banana, Datuna mentioned he was not afraid of going to jail.

In actuality, prior to his overall performance, he questioned his mates to get ready to get in touch with his attorneys in circumstance he was arrested.

“The gallery took all my details and the police took all my details,” he explained. “What is likely to come about in the upcoming handful of days, I you should not know.”

On Sunday, the gallery powering the sale of “Comedian” reported in an Instagram write-up that the installation had been taken out from the exhibit amid community basic safety concerns.

CNN has achieved out to Galerie Perrotin for comment.





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