Even non-art lovers have heard of this work. Made by artist Maurizio Cattelan, the banana hung on the wall with grey adhesive tape sold for $6.2 million at an auction organised by Sotheby’s.
On 20 November, the New York auction world reached yet another milestone in its history. The auction room went into a frenzy when the hammer fell for the banana hung on a wall by a piece of silver-grey ribbon by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Both adored and contested, the work has had the merit of generating debate since its creation.
Millions for a banana
The piece, named Comedian and created in 2019, was sold for 5.2 million dollars – 6.2 million with costs, or 5.7 million euros. This was six times more than the high estimate of the experts at Sotheby’s. The work was the second in a collection of three, sold at Art Basel Miami for $120,000. It was accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and instructions for replacing the fruit, which should be hung 175 centimetres from the ground at an angle of 37 degrees, and of course replaced every seven to ten days when the banana loses its freshness.
The buyer? Justin Sun, Chinese collector and founder of the TRON crypto-currency platform. For him, ‘this is not just a work of art, but a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the crypto-currency community.’ The businessman assures that he will ‘personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honouring its place in both art history and popular culture.’
David Galperin, head of the contemporary art department at Sotheby’s Americas, had this to say about the price, which may make some people jump. ‘Cattelan’s Comedian is about the conditions that characterise our understanding of what makes art – and one of those conditions is value. So when we put this work of art up for sale, one of the big questions we had to ask ourselves was how to value it. For me, the question is more specific: how to value what, for me at least, is one of the most brilliant ideas in the history of conceptual art.’
The banana that questions the notion of art
Maurizio Cattelan’s work is part of a conceptual art movement that never ceases to be talked about. While some appreciate its playfulness and boldness, which thumbs its nose at the seriousness and conventions of the art world, others criticise its ease and insignificance.
Parodied on social networks and sometimes taken as a symbol of economic inequality, the banana was eaten in 2019 by the American artist of Georgian origin David Datuna as part of his performance Hungry Artist. Last year, it was devoured by a Korean student at an exhibition in Seoul.
In an interview with The Art Newspaper in 2021, Maurizio Cattelan reflected on the virality of his work. ‘For me, Comedian wasn’t a joke, it was a sincere comment and reflection on what we value. At art fairs, speed and business rule, so I saw it this way: if I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like other people sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my own rules. I can’t say how people will react, but I hope these new works will break the usual viewing habits and open up a debate about what really matters. We’re surrounded by conversations based on immaterial structures, social values and hierarchies that we’ve created, but we generally prefer to forget about that; it’s like being anaesthetised.’
Comedian could therefore have a deeper meaning, as it questions the very meaning of art and the value we attribute to it. ‘I think this work will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and become part of history,’ says Justin Sun.
Other works have provoked similar debates, such as Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a ready-made porcelain urinal turned upside down, mounted on a pedestal and signed with a pseudonym in 1917; Merde d’artiste (1961), labelled, numbered and signed tins containing the excrement of the artist Piero Manzoni; Yves Klein’s Zone de Sensibilité Picturale Immatérielle, documents attesting to the ownership of an empty space; Jeff Koon’s Balloon Dog, structures representing blown balloon dogs; or Banksy’s Love is in the Bin, which was shredded as the gavel fell in Sotheby’s London auction room in 2018.
Read also : Sir Elton John’s collection auctioned by Christie’s fetches more than $20 million
Featured photo : © Sotheby’s
