Key Points
- Justin Sun, a 34-year-old cryptocurrency entrepreneur and founder of TRON , purchased Maurizio Cattelan's artwork "Comedian" for $6.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York.
- This conceptual artwork consisted of a banana taped to a wall, making it one of the most expensive pieces of fruit in the world.
- Sun later ate the banana at a press conference in Hong Kong, describing it as "much better than other bananas" and "really very good."
- The work had already been consumed twice before, but none of the previous consumers had paid for it.
Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic work “Comedian” is a simple banana taped to a wall. Since its appearance at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, it has sparked much debate in the contemporary art world. Initially sold for $120,000, the conceptual work sparked an uproar, including when an artist ate one of the editions.
Recently, one of the three versions of "Comedian" was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York for an impressive $6.2 million. The buyer, Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and founder of the TRON blockchain, acquired the work along with a certificate of authenticity allowing him to recreate it.
“The artwork ‘Comedian’ represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun said. “By consuming the banana, I hope to interact with the piece on a deeper level and contribute to the ongoing dialogue around conceptual art and its value.”
Shortly after, at a press conference in Hong Kong, Sun ate the banana, appropriating the concept of the work that questions notions of value and ephemerality. He joked about its quality, saying it was “much better than other bananas” and “really very good.” The act symbolically connected contemporary art, meme culture, and the world of cryptocurrencies.
In an unexpected twist, Shah Alam, a 74-year-old fruit vendor, has become a viral sensation. Alam, a Bangladeshi immigrant working on New York's Upper East Side, sold a banana for 35 cents, unaware that it would be used to recreate Cattelan's work that sold for millions.
When he learned of the astronomical price, Alam said he was stunned: "I can't believe it. Who would have thought that a single banana could be worth so much?" As a gesture of gratitude or perhaps provocation, Justin Sun offered to buy 100,000 bananas from Alam, although Alam had not yet been informed.
Jean Dubreil