I was relieved to hear that the feller who bought a banana at Sotheby’s in New York last week for $6.2m is going to eat it.
Whenever I am enveloped by that familiar wave of despair about the descent of humankind into farce, I am relieved by the belated arrival of common sense. Eating I understand.
This particular banana — bought earlier in the day from a nearby fruit stand for 35c — is the current star of a 2019 artwork, Comedian, by the Italian prankster Maurizo Cattelan.
Now, any curious hound or human is going to wonder how this humble banana — sold by a Bangladeshi fruiterer who didn’t want to tell anyone his name, lest it get him into trouble — could be worth many millions of dollars a few hours later.
So there has to be a story to it — one would hope a very good story.
Comedian first made waves when two editions of the artwork were sold at Art Basel Miami Beach for $120,000, and a third was bought by the Guggenheim Museum for an extra $30,000. Truly.
Just to be clear, this is an ordinary, no-frills banana, duct-taped to a wall. It comes with a certificate of authenticity and installation instructions to the owner to replace the banana, if they wish, whenever it rots.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that, as soon as the first banana was sold in Miami back in 2019, a performance artist named David Datuna ripped it off the wall and ate it. He wasn’t arrested or whipped or anything — someone produced another 35c banana, taped it to the wall and all was well.
A similar thing happened in 2023, when a South Korean art student helped himself when the installation went on display at Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art.
So it was that last Wednesday, the second edition of Comedian — one of the $120,000 versions sold in Miami — went up for auction again with a purchase price estimate of $1.5m. The Boss couldn’t tell me how many times the second edition banana had been eaten.
Sotheby’s chairman for contemporary art, Gregiore Billault, was asked before the auction if he thought the $1.5m estimate was conservative, given all the publicity the artwork had attracted.
“Let’s see where we land on Wednesday,” Billault replied, “but for me the genius of this concept defies valuation”.
You’d have to think he had a smirk on his face at the time — there is no other way to see it. It must have turned into a grin as the bidding opened at $800,000 and moved briskly for five minutes among six keen bidders, until a Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur, Justin Sun, bid $5.2m. Sotheby’s then added an extra million for auction house fees.
Mr Sun said in a statement that the Cattelan work “represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community”.
He added that, “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.”
It seems he placed his bids by phone from Hong Kong, so he hadn’t inspected the banana yet. I wonder if it gave him indigestion. Woof!