Duct-taped banana sells for $6.2 million at art auction

A journalist takes a picture of ‘Comedian’ during a media preview in New York. Pic/AFP

A piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple banana, duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday. ‘Comedian', by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, as festivalgoers tried to make out whether the fruit affixed to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke on questionable standards among art collectors. At one point, another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.

The piece attracted so much attention that it was withdrawn from view. But three editions sold for between $1,20,000 and $1,50,000. Five years later, Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, now paid over 40 times that higher price point. Or, more accurately, Sun purchased a certificate of authenticity that gives him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it ‘Comedian'.

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