The $120,000 Art Banana Gets the Meme Treatment
Click here to read the full article.
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.
More from WWD
Araks Discusses Love of Color, Designing 'Everyday Luxuries'
Art Basel Miami Beach: Pharrell and Hebru Brantley Toast Collaboration
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 a merch opportunity when posting a duct-taped yellow version of its micro Le Chiquito bag.
Scroll down for more “art banana” memes, free of charge.
A post shared by JACQUEMUS (@jacquemus) on Dec 9, 2019 at 7:33am PST
An expensive selfie. Great time in #miamiartweek with @nyacademyofart
A post shared by Brooke Shields (@brookeshields) on Dec 8, 2019 at 10:36am PST
NYC's response to Art Basel: pic.twitter.com/biLJB1NJC1
— No Quarter Will Be Given (@chaedria) December 8, 2019
A post shared by B£Hn^z (@behnazpix) on Dec 9, 2019 at 11:31pm PST
God, no more Bananart meme making for me! @mauriziocattelan #mauriziocattelan
A post shared by Adrian Wilson's art page (@plannedalism) on Dec 7, 2019 at 7:22pm PST
A post shared by ✏️ One Public Writer 📰 (@onepublicwriter) on Dec 7, 2019 at 10:02am PST
A post shared by Howie Kra- Howiedoinit (@howiedoinit) on Dec 8, 2019 at 4:21pm PST
But I’m tastier 🍌 @burgerking #cattelanbanana #mauriziocattelan #cattelan #perrotin
A post shared by Maurizio Cattelan’s banana (@cattelanbanana) on Dec 10, 2019 at 1:34am PST
A post shared by GLAMGLOW (@glamglow) on Dec 9, 2019 at 4:41pm PST
Read more on Art Basel 2019 here:
Peter Dundas Talks the High Art of Fashion Illustrations
Inside the Bottega Veneta Dinner
Thom Browne Makes His Artist Debut
WATCH: Close Up With Kuba Dabrowski
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
