It's just a banana taped to a wall. However, the work of Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan once again caused a sensation on the Art market, Wednesday November 20, 2024, in New York, since it was purchased there… 6.2 million dollars, 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 wall using a piece of thick silver tape.
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The banana will be eaten
For several minutes, the price climbed and 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 creates bridges between 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 the history of Art and popular culture.”
Thirty-year-old Justin Sun had already distinguished himself by acquiring, in 2021, a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, The Nosefor $78.4 million.
An emblematic work
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 another 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 set its estimate on Wednesday at between $1 and $1.5 million. The conditions of sale provide that the buyer is given a certificate of authenticity… and instructions for replacing the fruit.
Lichtenstein and Magritte
Wednesday evening, Comedian was sold for more than a work by Roy Lichtenstein, a figure of American pop art, Oval Office (Study)left for “only” $4.2 million.
Our “Contemporary Art” file
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.
