An art installation of a banana duct taped to a wall that was previously hailed as a ‘defiant work of pure genius’ has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $6.2 million.
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ piece was snatched up by Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who outbid six other offers on Wednesday.
The installation drew record crowds at its initial unveiling back in 2019, but the bizarre piece caused such controversy and upheaval among crowds that it had to be removed from the premises before the end of the exhibition.
But this time around, the piece has come with a a surprising catch as the buyer has not purchased the original famous banana, but merely the instructions on how to replace the fruit when it rots.
But according to the BBC, Sun was quoted saying after his purchase that he would ‘personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience’.
This would not be the first time the banana would be eaten, however, after a hungry South Korean student last year ate the fruit while it was on display at Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art, claiming he had not eaten breakfast.
The student, Noh Huyn-soo, boldly taped the peel to the wall after eating the banana. Local media reported that a new banana was placed in the empty spot.
According to the museum, the banana was replaced every two to three days anyway.
An art installation of a banana duct taped to a wall has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $6.2 million
‘Comedian’ is a 2019 artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan
Pictured: Maurizio Cattelan last month
Stunned onlookers shouted ‘excuse me’ at Mr Noh during the recording, but he appeared to ignore the shouts and continued eating the banana.
He briefly posed with the skin taped to the wall before leaving the room.
Speaking later to local media about the incident, Mr Noh said the video was an act of ‘rebellion’ against Mr. Catellan’s own ‘rebellious’ artwork.
When told about the incident, Mr Cattelan,a sculptor and performance artist based in New York responded, ‘No problem at all’.
Performance artist David Datuna was the first to pull the banana from the wall in 2019, after the artwork had just been sold for $120,000 (£91,000) at Art Basel in Miami.
The banana had been replaced at the time and no action was taken.
Datuna told The Guardian at the time that although he considered Cattalan to be ‘a genius’, he took issue with the huge amount of money made from a banana that cost 20 cents.
‘I have travelled in 67 countries around the world in the last three years, and I see how people live,’ Datuna said. ‘Millions are dying without food. Then he puts three bananas on the wall for half a million dollars?’
Prior to its auctioning in New York, the piece has been on a world tour through major cities including London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles over the last month.
