Posted on 11/21/2024 8:53:52 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
A piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple banana, duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, with the winning bid coming from a prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
"Comedian," by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, as festivalgoers tried to make out whether the single yellow piece of fruit affixed to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke or cheeky commentary on questionable standards among art collectors. At one point, another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it. The piece attracted so much attention that it had to be withdrawn from view. But three editions sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to the gallery handling sales at the time.
Five years later, Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, has now paid more than 40 times that higher price point at the Sotheby's auction. Or, more accurately, Sun purchased a certificate of authenticity that gives him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it "Comedian."
The piece attracted heavy attention at the busy auction at Sotheby's, with attendees in the crowded room holding up phones to take photos as two handlers wearing white gloves stood at both sides of the banana.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
I figured inflation was bad but wow.
I think I could do a reasonable forgery for a couple of bucks.
I wonder if this is really just a way to pay off the mmafia for debts owed and still have it look legit in accounting.
This is another example of why idiots from Jamaica/India/Canada are nominated to govern America and rule over the America people. We’ve got idiots that are just plain hopeless and stupid. I wonder is they would pay $6.2 million for some nifty used diaper art.
Nice try, but nobody will ever top Piero Manzoni, who put his own poo in tin cans and sold them to idiot collectors. Some of the cans later exploded, which was the cream of the jest.
Civilization has officially collapsed.
Pay $6.2 Million, and you still have to supply your own banana AND duct tape!
Insanity.
“...sells again...”
P. T. Barnum was right all along
Yes. But “Anybody” can duct tape a banana to the wall.
Only Elon Musk can suspend a banana in space using piano wire.
Only we of Italian descent would think like that :)
Maybe you’re right.
‘Art’ among the well heeled is but a money laundering scheme.
Every time I hear a story like this now, my immediate thought is: “Money laundering”.
It’s hard to imagine people treating money like toilet paper if the Fed didn’t exist.
Mafia? that’s old school. Crypto, Deep State, Soros and others we don’t know about have taken over.
It is not art. It is money laundering.
Sun purchased a certificate of authenticity that gives him the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it “Comedian.”
Speechless.
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