Repairs for controversial banana sculpture

A controversial street sculpture of a banana been removed for repairs months after vandals tried to “decapitate” it.

A controversial street sculpture of a banana with a skull carved into it has been removed for repair after it was vandalised in Melbourne’s inner north.

The sculpture, on the corner of Rose and Brunswick streets, Fitzroy, was damaged some time between 9pm on Thursday, Nov­ember 25, and 6am on Friday, November 26, when a man tried to “decapitate” it with a hacksaw.

Police released information about the man who damaged the 2m tall sculpture but a spokesman said no arrests had yet been made.

On Monday, a Yarra City Council member confirmed the sculpture, by artist Adam Stone, had been sent for repairs.

The ‘fallen fruit’ sculpture has divided opinion over its look and price tag. Picture: Alex Coppel

At the time, Mr Stone said the vandalism was “pretty shocking” and “upsetting”.

The $22,000 sculpture, called Fallen Fruit, has split public opinion with some calling it a waste of money while others appreciate its artistic merit.

The City of Yarra spent a fifth of a $100,000 taxpayer-funded grant from the TAC on the artwork.

In November, a council spokeswoman said the sculpture “activates” the area, encourages increased pedestrian activity and had been “well received by residents and visitors”.

A 300-word description of the artwork published on the council’s website says it attempts to “subvert” the 1970s phenomenon of oversized, kitsch roadside objects.

The sculpture is now being repaired.

“The work does this by employing the symbol of the banana, anthropomorphised through the inclusion of a human skull, a memento mori to meditate on our Western tendencies towards unsustainable desires and excess,” the description claims.

“Using absurdity and humour as an entry point, this oversized pop object reveals the ‘infallibility’ of the super-human figure as social myth.”

It also says the artwork “engages with Banana Art, a lowbrow internet subculture” and acts as “an absurd warning about our human compulsion towards an excessive drive”.

The big banana was installed as part of the council’s conversion of Rose St, which also has a painted mural, into a shared zone for pedestrians and cars with a speed limit of 10km/h.