Duct-taped banana sells for $6.2 million at art auction
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[November 21, 2024]
NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple
banana, duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New
York on Wednesday, with the winning bid coming from a prominent
cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
“Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when
it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, as festivalgoers tried to
make out whether the single yellow piece of fruit affixed to a white
wall with silver duct tape was a joke or cheeky commentary on
questionable standards among art collectors. At one point, another
artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.
The piece attracted so much attention that it had to be withdrawn from
view. But three editions sold for between $120,000 and $150,000,
according to the gallery handling sales at the time.
Five years later, Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON,
has now paid more than 40 times that higher price point at the Sotheby’s
auction. Or, more accurately, Sun purchased a certificate of
authenticity that gives him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a
wall and call it “Comedian.”
The piece attracted heavy attention at the busy auction at Sotheby's,
with attendees in the crowded room holding up phones to take photos as
two handlers wearing white gloves stood at both sides of the banana.
Bidding started at $800,000 and within minutes shot up to $2 million,
then $3 million, then $4 million, and higher, as the auctioneer, Oliver
Barker, joked “Don't let it slip away.”
“Don’t miss this opportunity," Barker said. “These are words I've never
thought I'd say: Five million dollars for a banana.”
The final hammer price announced in the room was $5.2 million, which
didn't include the about $1 million in auction house fees, paid by the
buyer.
In a statement, Sun said the piece “represents a cultural phenomenon
that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency
community.” But he said the latest version of “Comedian" won't last
long.
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A woman looks at artist Maurizio Cattelan's piece of art "Comedian"
during an auction preview at Sotheby's in New York, Monday, Nov. 11,
2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
“Additionally, in the coming days, I
will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic
experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular
culture,” Sun said.
Sotheby’s calls Cattelan “among Contemporary Art’s most brilliant
provocateurs.”
“He has persistently disrupted the art world’s status quo in
meaningful, irreverent, and often controversial ways,” the auction
house said in a description of “Comedian.”
The sale came a day after a painting by the Belgian surrealist René
Magritte sold for $121.2 million, a record for the artist, at a
separate auction.
“The Empire of Light,” an eerie nighttime streetscape below a pale
blue daytime sky, sold Tuesday as part of Christie’s sale of the
collection of interior designer Mica Ertegun, who died last year at
age 97.
The sale lifts Magritte into the ranks of artists whose works have
gone for more than $100 million at auction. Magritte is the 16th
member of the club, which also includes Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo
Picasso and Andy Warhol, according to the market analyst firm
Artprice.
“The Empire of Light,” executed in 1954, was one of 17 versions of
the same scene that Magritte painted in oil. Marc Porter, chairman
of Christie’s Americas, called the sale “a historic moment in our
saleroom.”
The $121.2 million price included the auction house’s fees. The
buyer was a telephone bidder whose identity was not disclosed.
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