A conceptual artwork titled Comedian, consisting of a simple banana taped to the wall, sold for a staggering $6.2 million at an auction held in New York on Wednesday.
The winning bid came from Justin Sun, a prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur, who stated that the piece "represents a cultural phenomenon that connects the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community."
The work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created a sensation when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Attendees at the event wondered whether the piece, a yellow banana taped to a white wall with silver duct tape, was a joke or an ironic critique of art market standards, the AP agency recalled.
In its debut, the piece garnered so much attention that another artist even came by to remove the banana from the wall and eat it.
Due to the significant attention it garnered, the work was temporarily withdrawn; however, that same year, three editions of Comediante were sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to the gallery handling the sales.
Five years later, Sun, the founder of the cryptocurrency platform TRON, paid more than 40 times that amount at the Sotheby’s auction.
Sun not only acquired the piece, but also purchased a certificate of authenticity that grants him the right to stick a banana to a wall and call it Comedian.
The auction began with an initial bid of $800,000 and quickly reached astronomical figures, jumping from $2 million to $3 million, then to $4 million, until it finally closed at $5.2 million, not including the approximately $1 million in auction house fees.
Sun announced that, in the coming days, he would personally eat the banana as part of the artistic experience.
Sotheby’s described Cattelan as "one of the most brilliant provocateurs of contemporary art" and highlighted his ability to challenge the status quo of the art world with irreverent and controversial works.
This historic sale took place one day after a painting by René Magritte reached 121.2 million dollars at another auction, setting a record for the Belgian surrealist.
With this figure, Magritte joined an exclusive group of artists whose works have surpassed 100 million dollars at auction, including Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol.
In 2019, the banana taped to the wall was first presented at Art Basel Miami, where the artwork fetched a price of $120,000, sparking intense debates about contemporary art and its value.
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