Wait a minute . . . was it a Wichitan who bought that $6.2 million banana duct-tape art?

Mike Michaelis is known for collecting art, but did we somehow miss him purchasing the most-talked-about piece of art worldwide in the last year?

Not quite. But what actually happened is perhaps even more stunning.

First, the background:

Michaelis, chairman of Emprise Financial Corp. and partner in Reuben Saunders Gallery, has an extensive personal collection of art. He’s also collected works by more than 850 artists to place in his family’s Emprise Bank branches.

One gallery wall at the bank’s downtown headquarters changes every 90 to 120 days or so. Generally, the gallery displays pieces that are new to the bank. Then, if an employee wants a picture or sculpture for an office or particular area, the piece is moved. Some works might go to storage for use at a later time.

Though about 90% of what Michaelis collects is by Kansas artists, he does sometimes acquire other works.

“You know, I started out just trying to put artwork on blank walls in our various banks,” Michaelis said.

He said he loves the artists he’s met, and staff and customers love getting to enjoy the works.

“Our staff cherish the work that’s around them,” Michaelis said.

“We have a reasonable amount of fun moving art around and sharing it with people.”

You might say Michaelis has had more than a reasonable amount of fun with one of the latest pieces for the gallery.

He’d been watching what was happening in the art world with Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s work called “Comedian.”

That’s the piece that’s simply a banana — as in a fresh one — duct-taped to a wall. It sold at auction last month for $6.2 million, or rather its certificate of authenticity did, which gives the buyer the right to also recreate the work and call it by the same name.

When Michaelis first heard about it, he wondered who bought it and what might motivate the person to pay so much for something that was only going to rot.

“It’s an interesting story that makes a lot of people think about art that otherwise might not,” Michaelis said.

Bankers generally aren’t known for being pranksters — and Michaelis usually is far from it — but he thought it would be amusing to have a staff member recreate the banana and duct-tape piece for the gallery.

“I thought that it would create discussion in the bank, and it did,” he said.

“Lots of people came up and looked at it and giggled.”

Word started spreading about the piece.

“There were a few people that actually thought we bought it,” Michaelis said.

Surprise doesn’t quite describe their reactions.

“Maybe shocked might be the word.”

Mostly it was just fun.

“Our people work really hard, and it’s nice to have moments of just kind of joy,” Michaelis said. “You know, the world’s a pretty serious place today, and maybe we’re all looking for a sense of relief, and it doesn’t take us much to laugh at a situation.”

Then there’s the serious side of art, even if some people think the artist’s banana and duct tape was ridiculous.

“He certainly made kind of a name for himself and created a lot of excitement and a lot of talk, and again, all that’s good for the art world,” Michaelis said.

So what’s happened to his version of the banana art now?

“Ahhh, maybe at the landfill? I don’t know. It’s not on the wall. I doubt that it’s in the bank.”

What a pity.

“Oh, yeah,” Michaelis said. “You can save the duct tape, but you can’t save the banana very long.”