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A NEW YORK — The winning bid from a well-known cryptocurrency entrepreneur brought $6.2 million to a New York auction on Wednesday for a piece of conceptual art that was a simple banana taped to a wall.
The 2019 Art Basel Miami Beach premiere of “Comedian,” a piece of art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, caused a stir as attendees attempted to determine whether the lone yellow fruit attached to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke or a cheeky critique of dubious art collector standards. At one point, the banana was removed from the wall and consumed by another artist.
So much attention was drawn to the piece that it had to be taken down from display. At the time, the gallery handling sales reported that three editions sold for between $120,000 and $150,000.
The founder of the cryptocurrency platform TRON, Justin Sun, has now paid more than 40 times that higher price point at the Sotheby’s auction five years later. In other words, Sun bought an authenticity certificate that allows him to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it “Comedian.”
As two handlers in white gloves stood at either side of the banana, the piece garnered a lot of attention during the crowded Sotheby’s auction, with guests holding up their phones to take pictures.
As auctioneer Oliver Barker joked, “Don’t let it slip away,” the bidding began at $800,000 and in a matter of minutes soared to $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, and over.
“Don’t throw this chance away,” Barker advised. It never occurred to me to say, “Five million dollars for a banana.”
A final hammer price of $5.2 million was announced in the room; this price did not include the approximately $1 million the buyer paid in auction house fees.
“Represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun said in a statement. According to him, however, the most recent iteration of “Comedian” will not endure.
“In addition, I will eat the banana myself in the next few days as part of this special artistic experience, honoring its place in both popular culture and art history,” Sun added.
“One of the most brilliant provocateurs of Contemporary Art,” according to Sotheby’s, is Cattelan.
As the auction house described “Comedian,” it stated that “he has consistently challenged the status quo in the art world in significant, irreverent, and frequently contentious ways.”
The sale was the day after a painting by Belgian surrealist René Magritte at a separate auction brought in a record $121.2 million for the artist.
Christie’s sale of interior designer Mica Ertegun’s collection included the eerie streetscape “The Empire of Light,” which depicts a nighttime scene beneath a pale blue daytime sky. Ertegun passed away last year at the age of 97.
As a result of the sale, Magritte joins the group of artists whose pieces have sold for over $100 million. The market analysis firm Artprice reports that Magritte is the 16th member of the club, which also includes Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and Leonardo da Vinci.
In 1954, Magritte painted 17 different oil versions of the same scene, including “The Empire of Light.” According to Christie’s Americas chairman Marc Porter, the sale was “a historic moment in our saleroom.”
In addition to the auction house fees, the price was $121.2 million. The buyer, who was not identified, placed the bid over the phone.
