© AP
The conceptual art piece, called Comedian, became a viral sensation after Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan debuted it at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019.
Festivalgoers tried to make out whether the single piece of fruit stuck to a white wall with silver tape was a joke or cheeky commentary on questionable standards among art collectors.
The Sotheby's auction house said it was the announcement of a new original work by the prominent and provocative artist Cattelan that initially captured the world's attention, but Comedian "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".
At one point, someone even took the banana off the wall and ate it.
Now Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, has paid $6.2m at an auction for a certificate of authenticity that gives him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it "Comedian."
Mr Sun said Comedian "represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community".
But the latest version won't last long - because he's going to eat it.
"Additionally, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honouring its place in both art history and popular culture," Mr Sun said.
The Sotheby's auction saw bidding start at $800,000 and increase to multi-millions within minutes, with the auctioneer joking: "Don't let it slip away."
Lucius Elliot, head of contemporary marquee sales at Sotheby's, said there has been much debate over "whether this is art, whether it is a prank, whether it is a symbol of the excess of the art market".
"In truth, it is, of course, all of those things," he concluded.
Reader Comments
No, the current "modern art" scene is crowded with mediocre and ambitious bastard children of our hidden "elite", and these prices are a way to keep them afloat and their mouths shut.
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"In March, Sun revealed a new venture that could have major implications for the art world: an NFT investment fund focused on acquisitions of blue-chip art. He announced the fund after purchasing works by Picasso and Warhol for a collected $22 million at auction, pledging them as the first pieces of art to be digitally registered on the blockchain via the new fund, titled JUST NFT, in a process known as tokenization".
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and as am content to know Zilch about it, here's what others say.
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"As i understand it, they’re essentially playing a weird version of Russian roulette, they’re buying those computer generated automatized-picrew-copy paste because the speculative value, which essentially means “This could become REALLY valuable in the future so i’ll keep it just in case”, and then sell it to someone who’s going to do about the same. None of them care for the artwork, the NFT itself is just a hyperlink hosted on a server that points to the artwork, and functions as a “i bought this as an NFT” verification, you don’t own the art, or anything associated, you just own that “certificate”.
"It’s similar to the scam of people “selling Stars” that was a thing, remember those? NFTs are exactly the same when viewed without the business lexicon that makes it sound way more revolutionary and complex than it really is."
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Is that worth anything?
(Well, hopefully that amuses someone other than me who's aimlessly killing time right now).