In April this year, Hyun-soo made headlines when he visited Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art and helped himself to Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian (2019) banana piece.
In a Guardian essay published last Friday, Hyun-soo said that he didn’t know much about Cattelan prior to eating the banana.
“I’m not familiar with Cattelan’s work other than the banana,” Hyun-soo says. “ I think Comedian can be considered a work of art, apart from the ridiculous price. But there will be different opinions. I’ve never met him, so I don’t really know what he thought of my eating the banana, but I read an article in which his response was, “no problem at all”.
The religious studies and aesthetics student admits to doing “strange things” in the past, so much so that his friends are “immune” to these kinds of brave, albeit mischievous, shenanigans.
Above Image: Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian from 2019. Photo Han Haidan/China News Service via Getty Images
“For instance, in 2015, I took a leave of absence from university and lived like a homeless person for a month in Seoul railway station.” He adds, “Later that year, I lived in the Mudeungsan, a mountain range in Hwasun County for about two months. I learned about oriental astrology there. Then for three years from 2017, I snuck into the centres of various cults and learned about the mechanics of how people are enticed to join.”
Hyun-soo took the opportunity to respond to the press about his reason for eating the banana. He didn’t do it because he was hungry, nor out of protest. He did it, ladies and gentlemen, for fame. And he’s not afraid to admit it.
The sassy student explains, “It was reported in the press that my banana eating was an act of rebellion or that I was hungry. I think it’s up to the public to decide on that. Some people see my banana eating as simply vandalism. Others say it was done for publicity – and I agree. The act of damaging someone else’s artwork has made me famous. I was an ordinary person, and now thanks to the “comedy” of eating a banana, I’m in the Guardian.”
Main Image: Noh Hyun-soo in Seoul, South Korea, holding a replica of Cattelan’s banana piece. Photograph: Tina Hsu/The Guardian