[ad_1]
When a banana taped to a wall sold for US$120,000 (A$184,150) in 2019, there was an uproar on social media and an age-old debate about the meaning of art.
But artist Maurizio Cattelan’s viral creation titled “The Comedian” turned out to be a good investment for one collector: one of three “editions” of the artwork surpassed estimates and sold for $9.58 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York yesterday.
The auction house has estimated that the work will cost between 1.5 and 2.3 million dollars; bidding started at $1.2 million.
During the sale, auctioneer Oliver Barker described the work as “iconic” and “disturbing”, joking that selling bananas at auction were “words I never thought I’d say”.
Shortly after the sale, Sotheby’s revealed that Justin Sun, a Chinese collector and founder of a cryptocurrency platform, had purchased the work.
“This is not just a work of art,” Sun said in a press release.
“It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community.
“I believe this work will stimulate more thinking and discussion in the future and will become part of history.”
The winner will receive a roll of duct tape and one banana, as well as a certificate of authenticity and official installation instructions.
Before the sale, Sotheby’s confirmed to CNN that neither the tape nor, thankfully, the banana were original.
“‘Comedian’ is a conceptual artwork, and actual physical materials are substituted with each installation,” an auction spokesperson said via email at the time.
Cattelan and French art gallery Perrotin made headlines around the world five years ago when they exhibited “Comedian” at Art Basel Miami Beach with a six-figure asking price.
The original was made from a banana purchased at a Miami grocery store, though the gallery said it could be substituted, per the artist’s instructions.
The touching stories behind Young Archie’s award-winning portraits
The art world was divided over the work’s merits, although some critics saw it as rooted in a rich tradition of conceptual works – dating back to Marcel Duchamp’s famous mounted urinal – that question the value of art itself.
Crowds soon formed, with fairgoers queuing to see the viral installation.
Events took an unexpected turn when performance artist David Datuna grabbed a banana from the wall, before peeling and eating it in front of hundreds of stunned fairgoers.
He later defended the move as an artistic performance in itself and not as an act of vandalism.
The Miami installation was eventually removed due to public safety concerns, but all three editions were sold at the fair.
Two were purchased by private collectors for $184,150, while the third was purchased for a higher (but undisclosed) sum and was later donated to the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
In interviews given after the installation in Miami, Cattelan described “Comedian” as a work of commentary.
Speaking to Art Newspaper in 2021, he said it was “not a joke”, calling the viral installation “a reflection of what we value”.
The Italian artist, known for satirical works that challenge popular culture, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment when the auction was announced in October.
In a press release announcing the sale, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Americas, David Galperin, described “The Comedian” as a “defiant work of pure genius.”
“Balancing deep critical thought and subversive wit, this is a work that defines the artist and our generation,” Galperin said, adding, “If at its core ‘The Comedian’ questions the very notion of the value of art, then putting the work up for auction … will be the final realization of its essential conceptual idea—the public will finally have the right to decide its true value.”
Although this was the first time “Comedian” has appeared at auction, the work was recently exhibited at the Leeum Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea.
And then it was eaten: the art student from Seoul National University scooped out the fruit and ate it, before taping the peel back to the wall.
“The student told the museum he ate it because he was hungry,” a gallery spokesman told CNN after the 2023 incident.
The museum later replaced the eaten banana with a fresh one.
Sun said in a press release about yesterday’s auction that he had planned to eat the fruit as well.
“Additionally, in the coming days I will personally eat a banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in art history and popular culture.”
Sotheby’s exhibited the works in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles prior to the sale.
[ad_2]