That’s just bananas! ‘Pure genius’ work of fruit duct-taped to a wall sells at Sotheby’s auction for eye-watering amount

An art installation of a banana canal taped to a wall and previously hailed as a “challenging work of pure genius” has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $6.2 million.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ piece was snatched up by Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who outbid six others on Wednesday.

“After more than six minutes of heated bidding, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman and Chairman of Sotheby’s China Jen Hua placed the winning bid for ‘Comedian’ on behalf of Chinese collector and founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, Sotheby’s announced on X.

Sun, who has an estimated net worth of $1.43 billion, said on .

The Chinese businessman amassed significant wealth from his crypto ventures and served as Grenada’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2021 to 2023.

‘This is not just a work of art; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will spark more thought and discussion in the future and become a part of history. “I am honored to be the proud owner of the banana and look forward to it providing further inspiration and impact to art lovers around the world,” he added.

The installation attracted record numbers of visitors when it was first unveiled in 2019, but the bizarre piece caused such controversy and uproar among the crowd that it had to be removed from the premises before the end of the exhibition.

But this time the piece has a surprising catch, as the buyer did not buy the original famous banana, but only the instructions on how to replace the fruit when it rots.

‘Comedian’ is a 2019 work of art by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun bought the piece on Wednesday and said he plans to eat the fruit

This wouldn’t be the first time the banana has been eaten, however, after a hungry South Korean student ate the fruit while it was on display at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul last year, claiming he hadn’t eaten breakfast.

The student, Noh Huyn-soo, boldly stuck the peel on the wall after eating the banana. Local media reported that a new banana had been placed in the empty spot.

According to the museum, the banana was replaced every two to three days anyway.

Stunned onlookers shouted “excuse me” at Mr Noh during the recording, but he appeared to ignore the screams and continued eating the banana.

He posed briefly with the skin taped to the wall before leaving the room.

Speaking later to local media about the incident, Mr Noh said the video was an act of “rebellion” against Mr Catellan’s own “rebellious” artworks.

When told about the incident, Mr. Cattelan, a New York-based sculptor and performance artist, responded, “No problem at all.”

Performance artist David Datuna was the first to pull the banana off the wall in 2019, after the artwork just sold for $120,000 (£91,000) at Art Basel in Miami.

Pictured: Maurizio Cattelan last month

The banana had been replaced at the time and no action was taken.

Datuna told The Guardian at the time that although he considered Cattalan “a genius”, he disagreed with the enormous amount of money being made from a banana that cost 20 cents.

“I have traveled to 67 countries around the world in the past three years and I see how people live,” Datuna said. ‘Millions die without food. Then he puts three bananas on the wall for half a million dollars?’

Prior to the auction in New York, the piece has been on a world tour over the past month through major cities such as London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles.