“Comedian”, a creation by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was sold for $6.2 million at an auction this Wednesday, November 20 in New York.
Small peculiarity: the work is a banana summarily taped to the wall.
A Chinese-American entrepreneur became the owner.
It's just a banana taped to a wall, but the work of Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan once again caused a sensation on the art market this Wednesday, November 20 in New York. It was purchased for $6.2 million, or 5.88 million euros, by a Chinese-American entrepreneur.
In the Sotheby's auction room, seven buyers or their representatives competed for the acquisition of the work Comediana banana hung on a white wall using a piece of thick silver tape.
The buyer wants… to eat the banana
For several minutes, the price climbed, going from 800,000 dollars to 5.2 million, or 6.2 million with fees, at the moment when the sound of the hammer sounded. Shortly after, Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron, claimed to be the buyer in a Sotheby's press release.
“It’s not just art. It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community”assured the entrepreneur from Xining, China. He promised to “eat the banana to make it a unique artistic experience and honor its place in both art history and popular culture”.
Thirty-year-old Justin Sun had already distinguished himself by acquiring a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti in 2021, The Nosefor $78.4 million.
Instructions for replacing bananas
The banana promised to be one of the stars of New York's fall auction week. The work of the iconoclastic and provocative artist Maurizio Cattelan, which exists in three copies, is supposed to question the notion of art and its value. She has been talked about a lot since her first exhibition in 2019 in Miami, where an artist ate her to denounce its price, at the time $120,000. Another copy was donated to the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Sotheby's had set its estimate between $1 million and $1.5 million. The conditions of sale provide that the buyer is given a certificate of authenticity and instructions for replacing the fruit.
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During this auction, Comedian was sold for more than a work by Roy Lichtenstein, a figure of American pop art, Oval Office (Study)gone for $4.2 million.
The day before, at Christie's, The empire of lightsan iconic painting by René Magritte, sold for $121 million, setting an auction record for the artist, in the centenary year of the Surrealist movement.
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