In 1982, Joseph Beuys sparked discussions with his „Fat Corner“ installation, where he placed five kilograms of butter in the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Fast forward to 2022, an Australian artist exhibited a cucumber from a cheeseburger and now, a banana taped to a wall is expected to fetch up to 1.5 million dollars at an auction.
The banana in question is part of an artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose original piece was sold for $120,000 at the Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. The original banana was actually bought from a grocery store in Miami.
Cattelan is known for his controversial and attention-grabbing works, and the „Comedian“ banana was no exception. The viral hype surrounding the banana after its initial exhibition caused quite a stir in social media and the art world.
Now, one of the three „editions“ of Cattelan’s work is set to be auctioned at the traditional auction house Sotheby’s, with an estimated value of 1 to 1.5 million dollars, as reported by CNN. The buyer will receive a roll of tape, a banana, a certificate of authenticity, and an official installation guide. Sotheby’s confirmed that neither the tape nor the banana are the originals, as „Comedian“ is a conceptual artwork, and the physical materials are exchanged for each installation.
The first presentation of the banana at the Art Basel Miami Beach caused chaos when performance artist David Datuna removed it from the wall and ate it in front of hundreds of stunned attendees. The installation was eventually removed in Miami due to public safety concerns, but all three editions were sold. Two were purchased for $120,000 each by private collectors, and the third was sold for a higher (undisclosed) sum to a collector who gifted it to the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Most recently, „Comedian“ was on display at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, where the yellow fruit was once again eaten, this time by a student who then reattached the peel to the wall.
The idea of a banana taped to a wall fetching millions at an auction may seem absurd to some, but in the world of contemporary art, where concepts and ideas hold as much value as physical objects, it is not entirely surprising. The debate around the value and meaning of such artworks continues to provoke discussion and challenge traditional notions of art and its worth.