A banana taped to a wall with duct tape was sold Wednesday at for $ 6,2 Million USD

Source PHoto RT: https://ar.rt.com/yr3x

"The World's Most Expensive Banana" ... A Chinese Billionaire Buys the Most Controversial Artwork

The most controversial artwork

The banana is called "The Comedian" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, and has been called "the most talked about artwork of the century" and the most controversial.

"The Comedian" was considered a phenomenon when it was first displayed in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, where festival-goers tried to figure out whether the yellow fruit taped to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke or a cheeky comment on the 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 pulled from the festival. But three copies of it sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to the gallery that was handling the sale at the time.

Five years later, Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron, paid more than 40 times that price at a Sotheby’s auction. Or rather, Sun bought a certificate of authenticity that gave him the authority to tape a banana to a wall and call it “Comedian.”

The piece received a lot of attention at the auction, with attendees in the crowded room holding up their phones to take pictures, while two white-gloved workers stood on either side of the banana.

Bidding started at $800,000, and within minutes it had risen to $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, and higher, as Oliver Parker joked: “Don’t let it go. Don’t miss this opportunity. These are the words I never thought I’d say: $5 million for a banana.”

The final price announced in the hall was $5.2 million, plus the auction house’s fee of about $1 million, which the buyer paid.

In a statement, Sun said the piece “represents a cultural phenomenon that connects the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community,” noting that the latest version of “The Comedian” will not last long. “In the coming days, I will be eating the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in art history and popular culture,” Sun added.

Source: AP - https://ar.rt.com/yr3x - Published on 21.11.2024