Man is arrested after scrawling ‘Epstein didn’t kill himself’ in red lipstick on empty wall where $120,000 duct-taped banana exhibit was displayed at Miami’s Art Basel
- Roderick Webber, 46, from Massachusetts, wrote the message in red lipstick
- He was escorted away by police but complained that the banana eater was not
- Performance artist David Datuna ate Maurizio Cattelan’s banana artwork
Just a day after a performance artist grabbed and ate a $120,000 duct-taped banana at Art Basel, another has written a message about Jeffrey Epstein on the same wall in lipstick at the art fair.
Roderick Webber, 46, from Massachusetts, wrote on the same wall: ‘Epstien (sic) didn’t kill himself.’
He wrote the message in lipstick and he was swiftly arrested by police.
Roderick Webber, 46, from Massachusetts, wrote on the wall where the $120,000 banana had been taped to the wall: ‘Epstien (sic) didn’t kill himself’
The curators later covered up the message with a piece of white cardboard, according to The Miami Herald.
The message alludes to the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of the billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who committed suicide in his New York jail cell in August.
Many believe his death may have been arranged by others implicated in a global pedophile ring who would have been outed if Epstein went to trial.
The phrase ‘Epstein didn’t kill himself’ went viral after his death, although Webber failed to spell the name of the disgraced financier correctly.
Webber was arrested on charges of criminal mischief after the vandalism was reported just before 5 pm
Webber shouted as he was escorted out of the Miami Beach convention center: ‘If someone can eat the $120,000 banana and not get arrested, why can’t I write on the wall?
‘This is the gallery where anyone can do art, right?’
On Saturday, David Datuna, who describes himself as a Georgian-born American artist living in New York, walked up to a banana that had been duct-taped to the 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.
The message was written in red lipstick on the wall after the banana was removed due to crowd safety
‘Art performance … hungry artist,’ Datuna said, as he peeled the fruit and took a bite. ‘Thank you, very good.’
A few bystanders could be heard giggling before a flustered gallery official whisked him to an adjoining space for questioning.
‘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 said. The banana is meant to be replaced.
David Datuna, who describes himself as a Georgian-born American artist living in New York, walked up to the banana at Miami’s Galerie Perrotin and pulled it off the wall and ate it
The banana is a work of art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan titled ‘Comedian’ and sold to a French collector for $120,000.
A replacement banana was taped to the wall about 15 minutes after Datuna’s stunt but was then taken down due to ‘several uncontrollable crowd movements’.
Art Basel is an international art fair selling the works of established and emerging artists.
It also made headlines on Friday when Madonna’s daughter Lourdes ‘Lola’ Leon stripped down to just a nude thong and pasties to simulate an orgy.
The half-Cuban 23-year-old wound up in a pile of around 30 others for the Love Different 2020 performance at The Temple House in Miami Beach.