Artist Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian” piece – which is a banana stuck to a wall with silver duct tape – which debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach has fetched more than $6million at auction
Onlookers were left stunned after a banana which was duct-taped to a white wall was sold at auction for more than $6million this week.
The quirky piece of art – dubbed “Comedian” – was sold at top fine art auctioneers Sotheby’s on Wednesday and was created by Maurizio Cattelan. It was first debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach back in December 2019. At that time it was predicted to generate around $1.5million, according to Sotheby’s.
However, five years on that valuation was smashed at a show earlier this week when the fruit, which is held up with a silver strip of duct tape exactly 160 centimeters from the floor, not only fetched millions but also hoards of people who came to see it. Eventually, Art Basel had to remove the popular display because of the crowds it drew and concerns about other pieces of art at the site, art critic Nancy Durrant revealed.
Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Americas, David Galperin, explained the 2019 art fair was the first Cattelan had been included in and was the announcement of his new original work which “captured the world’s attention immediately”. At one point, someone even took the banana off the wall and ate it.The auctioneers said the work “belongs to the rare league of artworks that need no introduction,” as it “quickly erupted into a viral global sensation that drew record crowds, social media inundation, landed the cover of The New York Post, and divided viewers and critics alike.”
It added that “Comedian” was “passionately debated, rhapsodically venerated, and hotly contested” as it made international headlines and was one of the most spoken-about pieces of art this century. The debut of the piece caused commotion and true pandemonium as well as angering many people, NBC News reports.
Lucius Elliot, head of contemporary marquee sales at Sotheby’s, explained how the art had people questioning whether it was real or a prank, or if it was a symbol of the excess of the art market. He added: “In truth, it is, of course, all of those things.” Many experts in the field have agreed the work is meant to be a playful joke and is a nod to how absurd some modern art can be.
Mr Elliot said Cattelan is “presenting a work that mocks the very notion of art having this degree of value,” adding that the piece’s value “is in its conceptual heft.”
Vogue editor Dodie Kazanijan said: “The important thing to know about Maurizio is that his jokes are serious and his serious work is funny. There’s something very deep in what Maurizio does, so the veneer of it might look like a banana, but there’s something else always at the core of what he’s saying.”
Emmanuel Perrotin, founder of Perrotin, the gallery where “Comedian” was first shown, said he called a client the day before the banana’s debut offering the client a chance to buy the artwork at an undisclosed price. The client turned him down, but three days later, Perrotin got a message from someone offering to buy “Comedian” for seven times the price he initially offered his client. Mr Perrotin explained: “Imagine the change of perception created by the way it was received by the audience,” Perrotin said.
