The most famous and most controversial of Maurizio Cattelan's works, a banana taped to a wall, was sold at auction by Sotheby's New York on Wednesday, November 20, for $6.2 million. After Manzoni's Merde d'artiste, Duchamps' Urinal, or Cy Twombly's scribbles, one wonders how contemporary “art” finds so many clients. Want to show off? Delusions of bored rich people? Elusive sensitivity? Sign of recognition bling bling ? It's a bit of all that at once. But it's also a good way to make money. Bleached or not.
And to think that five years ago, when he was born, “Comedian”, the banana stuck to the wall with silver adhesive tape, was worth $120,000. Last year it was valued at $1 million to $1.5 million. Three days ago, she found a buyer willing to pay five times as much. Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency Tron immediately declared that he would eat it “ to make it a unique artistic experience and honor its place in both art history and popular culture“. “Unique”, not so much since the work exists in three copies. But certainly an “experience” given that its owner must change the fruit after a certain period of time, which is why instructions for use are provided with the installation.
In all, eight potential buyers competed for the banana in the New York sales room of Patrick Drahi's company. But it was the Chinese-American entrepreneur who won it, perhaps also thanks to the possibility of paying in cryptocurrency. This is not the man's first purchase since in 2021 he acquired the sculpture by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, The Nose, for the modest sum of $78.4 million.
To boost sales and create buzz, Sotherby's announced it with a video worthy of the best Hollywood mega-productions. “A masterpiece”, “pure genius”, “the most radical work of the century, “ridiculous”, “unhealthy”…. all without revealing the name of the work. Suspense and a few words to “shock the bourgeois”, all that was needed for the radical-chic elite to get agitated.
If the soaring prices of works and their meaning most often escape ordinary mortals, David G. Hotte and Virginie Heem, authors of “ The fight against money laundering » (LGDJ editions) recall:
“The trade in works of art is one of the least controllable there is. Identifying objects is particularly tricky; the value of an object is often subjective, therefore difficult to determine. The amounts involved are considerable. Laundering and tax fraud operations are common and can result in a sudden and sometimes unexplained increase in market prices.
Favored by the opacity of the environment and the anonymity of auctions, contemporary art remains the speculative and tax-exempt tool par excellence. It is also the safest way to recycle dirty money. This explains a lot of things.
Audrey D’Aguanno
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