The banana art, titled Comedian, was Cattelan's first major debut at an art fair in over 15 years, according to the Perrotin Gallery. The "new work is no different than Cattelan's hyper-realistic sculptures lampooning popular culture and offer a wry commentary on society, power, and authority," wrote the gallery on Instagram.The idea for the piece began a year ago, when Cattelan was thinking of a banana-shaped sculpture. He tried multiple models made of resin, bronze and painted bronze, before finally returning to the classic, real, edible banana.In September, Cattelan's America, a "fully functional" toilet cast in 18-karat gold, was stolen from Blenheim Palace in England, according to Art News.America made "available to the public an extravagant luxury product seemingly intended for the 1%," according to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The public was allowed to use the toilet at its first showing at the Guggenheim in 2017."I want to be positive and think the robbery is a kind of Robin Hood-inspired action," said Cattelan in response to the robbery to The New York Times. He initially was confused why someone stole the toilet since he forgot "for a second that it was made out of gold." The toilet may have been worth as much as $4 million."We hope against hope that we can recover this precious work of art," said Dominic Hare, the CEO of Blenheim Palace, at the time. "It is deeply ironic that a work of art portraying the American Dream and the idea of an elite object made available to all should be almost instantly snatched away and hidden from view. We hope that the wonderful work of our dear friend Maurizio Cattelan becomes immortalized by this stupid and pointless act."
Banana taped to wall sells for $120k, promptly eaten by comedian
"I love Maurizio Cattelan [the banana artist] artwork and I really love this installation. It’s very delicious."
