David Datuna shows the remains of the artwork "Comedian" by the artist Maurizio Cattelan at Perrotin stand in Art Basel in Miami Beach on December 7, 2019. Photo: VCG

A performance artist shook up the crowd at the Art Basel show in Miami Beach on Saturday when he grabbed a banana that had been duct-taped to a gallery wall and ate it.

The banana was, in fact, a work of art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan titled "Comedian" and sold to a French collector for $120,000.

In a video posted on his Instagram account, David Datuna, who describes himself as a Georgian-born American artist, walks up to the banana and pulls it off the wall with the duct tape attached.

A few bystanders could be heard giggling before a flustered gallery official whisked him to an adjoining space for questioning. But the kerfuffle was resolved without a food fight.

"He did not destroy the art work. The banana is the idea," Lucien Terras, director of museum relations for Galerie Perrotin, told the Miami Herald.

As it turns out, the value of the work is in the certificate of authenticity, the newspaper reported. The banana is meant to be replaced.

A replacement banana was taped to the wall about 15 minutes after Datuna's stunt.

AFP