To use a duct tape, first, cut off about a 2-inch strip and place it on the top part of the dark stem. However, if you want a faster way of preserving the bananas, choose the traditional method of wrapping the entire crown of a bunch. Although it won’t fully stop the release of the ethylene gas from the stems, you can slow down the ripening process a bit.īetween the two wrapping methods, wrapping each stem individually makes the bananas keep its yellow color longer up to seven days. Either way, your aim here is to prevent the ethylene gas from escaping. Now, decide how you’ll wrap the bananas: by singles or by the bunch. You also need to decide which wrapping material to use: duct tape, plastic wrap, or aluminum foil. However, if you like to keep the bananas longer in the refrigerator, you can use an airtight container instead.įor this method, prepare your bananas. Airtight Container Or PlateĪfter coating the bananas with the juice, you can transfer them to a plate if you like to use them right away for desserts. Make sure that the cutting board you'll be using is intended for vegetables and fruits because you don’t want any meat residue to contaminate your bananas. Okay, you’ll need a knife and a cutting board to cut the bananas into slices. Alternatively, use a resealable plastic bag to mix the banana slices with the juice. You can also use a bottle to spray the juice on the bananas more easily. To paint the cut surfaces of bananas with the fruit juice, you’ll need to use a pastry brush. Since you’ll be dealing with citric acid, it’s not recommended to use metal bowls. Assuming there’s around seven or eight bananas in a bunch, you could theoretically recreate Cattelan’s “Comedian” in the comfort of your own home roughly 600,000 times before you even approached what one person spent on the original.A small bowl will serve as the container for your fruit juice, vitamin C solution, or soda water. The average retail price of a kilogram of bananas in Canada is around $1.50, according to Statista. There is a third copy of the piece, and it is expected to sell for an even higher price: $150,000.įallen in love with the concept, but don’t have the cash? Never fear. “If the banana moulds, a decision on that will be made on site,” the gallery said. The Perrotin release points out that as the banana itself is real, it will inevitably decay. The fact that it could be used as a toilet and was not merely a non-functioning sculpture was a reminder of “the inescapable physical realities of our shared humanity,” the Guggenheim says. The “America” was intended to make fun of both the American dream and excessive wealth. 4 explaining that the piece “offers insight how we assign worth and what kind of objects we value.”Ĭattelan’s previous work has included a fully functional solid gold toilet titled ‘America ’ which recently hit the headlines after it was stolen from Winston Churchill’s birthplace.Īccording to the Guggenheim’s biography of Maurizio Cattelan, he was born in Padua in 1960, and much of his artwork over the years has been aimed at mocking public figures and distorting common objects and symbols. Perrotin, the gallery behind the banana being shown in Art Basel, put out a press release on Dec. The controversy may be the point of the piece, however. One Twitter user posted a picture of a banana taped to a shoe, writing that “ bidding starts at $100k”. While some find humour in the piece, others have expressed outrage at the apparent misuse of wealth.

Opinions online have been split on the banana. It may look more like the decorative attempts of a college student on an exceptionally limited budget, but the piece - which has multiple versions - has already sold two copies. The banana was bought at a grocery store in Miami. Although he has worked with taxidermied animals and marble in his past to create sculptures, this piece is not an artistic recreation, but is literally a strip of tape and a fruit. The art piece is aptly called, “Comedian,” and is the work of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

That’s right - an actual, edible, real-life banana displayed at the prestigious Art Basel Art Fair fetched more money in one day than many people could even dream of having in their bank accounts.

But after a banana duct-taped to a wall at a Miami art festival sold for $120,000 this week, many people have been left saying, 'what?'

Banana duck tape