First gaining widespread attention when displayed at Art Basel Miami in 2019, Comedian by artist Maurizio Cattelan serves as a commentary on the nature of valuation in the art world. While many artists at Art Basel presented traditional work mediums, Maurizio Cattelan took a different approach, choosing to affix a simple banana to the wall of Perrotin Gallery's booth. Part of a three-piece series, the artwork was initially priced at 120,000 USD, a figure that sparked intense media coverage, ignited heated debates, and attracted large crowds.
At first glance, the banana appears absurd. Yet, it challenges the art world and the public to confront the question: why is something so simple and temporary assigned such high value? Despite the criticism, the nature of the piece didn’t deter buyers, and the price was eventually raised to 150,000 USD for the final iteration. The work quickly went viral, picked up by The New York Times and widely shared across social media as a meme, solidifying its place in contemporary cultural discourse.
Comedian, like other controversial works such as Robert Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing and Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, found its way into art history by pushing the boundaries of what can be considered art. Now, this piece is making headlines once again, but for different reasons – namely its sale at Sotheby’s New York, where it was bought for an astonishing 5.2 million US ( 6.2 million USD with fees). This new valuation marks a dramatic leap from its original price of 120,000 USD, and far exceeds its predicted auction value of 1 million USD. The piece was sold to Justin Sun, a collector and founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron, after a seven-minute bidding war on Wednesday 20 November 2024.
In an interview with Art Magazine, Sun revealed that his intended purpose for Comedian is to eat the banana, as an ironic way of "honouring its place in both art history and popular culture." This seemingly unconventional decision to consume the object after spending such a vast amount of money on it echoes a recurring theme in the work’s history. The banana was first eaten by performance artist David Datuna at Art Basel 2019 and later by a hungry Art student at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, further raising questions about the intended life of the piece.
Adding another layer of irony, the banana that sold at Sotheby’s for 5.2 million USD was reportedly bought earlier that same day for just 35 cents at a nearby fruit stand on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. This stark contrast between the banana’s everyday origin and its sky-high price tag further highlights the absurdity of the entire spectacle. Not only does the piece itself poke fun at the inflated valuations of contemporary art, but the fact that the banana sold for six times its estimated auction price amplifies Cattelan’s critique. In this way, the transaction becomes part of the artwork itself, reinforcing the idea that the true value of Comedian lies not in the object, but in the concept –commenting on how value within the art-market is often determined by social constructs rather than inherent aesthetic worth.
