A businessman has just won an auction for an installation of bananas stuck to a wall with tape for about 6.2 million USD (158 billion VND).
At the Sotheby's New York auction this morning, November 21 (Hanoi time), "Comedian" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan fetched a price far exceeding the expected price of 1 - 1.5 million USD (about 25-37 billion VND).
Outperforming six other bidders, Chinese businessman Justin Sun - founder of an e-commerce platform - won with a bid of about $6.2 million (VND158 billion).
He received a banana, a roll of tape, a certificate and instructions on how to install the work so that it would be replaced if it was damaged, according to Sotheby's. The businessman said "Commedian" "represents a cultural phenomenon that connects the art world.".
Page Justin Sun plans to eat the banana to "celebrate its place in art history and popular culture," The Guardian reported.
The work has been embroiled in copyright controversy. CNN reported that in 2022, artist Joe Morford accused Cattelan of copying the idea of the installation "Banana & Orange" (Banana and Orange) was made in 2000. Morford's work consists of a banana and an orange glued with tape to a green background.
Morford then filed a lawsuit against Cattelan, seeking $390,000 in damages. However, Cattelan's attorney said Morford did not have a "valid copyright" to the elements of the work.
The work "Comedian" A yellow banana, stuck to the wall with tape, created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2019.
This "conceptual art" work was introduced to the public by the Perrotin contemporary art gallery at the Art Basel Miami Beach exhibition center in December of the same year.
"Comedian" belongs to a rare group of works that need no introduction but quickly exploded into a global phenomenon, making the cover of The New York Post.,controversial among critics and viewers.
The auction house said that Maurizio Cattelan's creation became the most talked-about art product of the century.
Emmanuel Perrotin, founder of Perrotin, said there are three versions of the work. Two copies were purchased by two French collectors for $120,000 five years ago. The remaining model, worth $150,000, was sold to a museum.
In previous exhibitions, the banana was replaced whenever it spoiled. Mr. Emmanuel Perrotin commented that the product is "a symbol of global trade, a classic humorous image".
In 2023, at an exhibition displaying 38 of the artist's works at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, a student ate a banana and then used tape to stick the peel to the wall.
When asked by museum staff to explain his actions, he replied that he had "skipped breakfast and was too hungry" and that "destroying modern art can also be considered a form of art".
Previously in 2019, at the Art Basel exhibition center at the Galerie Perrotin museum in Miami, USA, artist David Datuna also removed a banana from the wall and ate it just minutes after the work was sold for $120,000.
TB (summary)