Eccentric crypto tycoon forks out $6MILLION for bizarre ‘artwork’ of banana taped to wall…but won’t even get the banana
A BILLIONAIRE will not even receive the banana after spending more than $6 million on the strange artwork of a banana tacked to a wall.
At a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Wednesday, Chinese collector and cryptocurrency tycoon Justin Sun purchased the 2019 work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The estimated value of the item “Comedian” was $1.2 million, and the bidding started at $800,000.
Before Sun paid an outrageous $6.24 million for it last week, it had just sold for $120,000 in 2019.
After describing the works as “iconic” and “disruptive,” auctioneer Oliver Barker was taken aback by the fact that he was actually selling a banana at auction. “Words I never thought I’d say,” he laughed.
After outbidding six other bidders, Comedian’s new owner justified the purchase price in a press statement.
“This is more than just an artwork,” he remarked. It is an example of a cultural phenomena that unites the bitcoin community, memes, and the realm of art.
“I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
Sun, however, will have to create the artwork himself despite the outrageous amount of money he paid; all he will get is a fresh banana and a roll of duct tape.
A certificate of authenticity and installation instructions will also be sent to him.
Prior to the auction, Sotheby’s assured CNN that the banana and the tape are not the originals used in 2019.
Sun has spent more than $6 million on the artwork’s concept.
I spent 10 hours recreating Andy Warhol s 150 million Marilyn Monroe portrait out of food – a breakfast favourite helped
According to an email from an auction house representative, “Comedian is a conceptual artwork, and the actual physical materials are replaced with every installation.”
Comedian’s new owner has acknowledged that he intends to consume the artwork.
Sun stated in his news release: “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.”
People have eaten the banana at earlier exhibitions of the artwork, with one student from Seoul National University in South Korea claiming to have done so out of hunger.
Who is Justin Sun?
The millionaire and cryptocurrency mogul, who was born in China, is also the prime minister of a tiny European country.
Justin Sun, a 34-year-old cryptocurrency king, founded the blockchain network TRON.
In addition to owning the BitTorrent protocol, a file transfer network, and the Poloniex exchange, a cryptocurrency platform, he is also in charge of TRON’s USDD stablecoin.
Sun served as Grenada’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization from 2021 until 2023.
Sun was elected Speaker of Congress and acting Prime Minister of the Eastern European micronation of Liberland in a blockchain election.
At least $1.4 billion is thought to be his estimated net worth.
Due to a lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which claimed that Sun and his companies engaged in securities fraud, Sun has been at the center of a number of disputes.
The entrepreneur was accused of manipulating TRON pricing and fabricating transaction volumes in order to attract investors.
Former employees of TRON sued Sun in civil court in 2020, alleging things “ranging from fraud to harassment to whistleblower retaliation.”
Following the event last year, a museum representative verified that he took the fruit off, ate it, then taped the peel back onto the wall.
In a similar occurrence, performance artist David Datuna removed the fruit from the wall and ate it in front of hundreds of people at the French art gallery Perrotin.
Later, Datuna made an effort to defend the move by arguing that it was performance art rather than vandalism.
The artwork was put up for auction for the first time on Wednesday.
David Galperin, head of Sotheby’s contemporary art for the Americas, rejoiced that “the public have a say in deciding its true value.”
The composition, according to him, “balances profound critical thought and subversive wit” and is a “defining work for the artist and for our generation.”
Read More on The US Sun
“Putting the work at auction will be the ultimate realization of its essential conceptual idea if Comedian fundamentally challenges the idea of the value of art,” Galperin continued.
“The public will finally have a say in deciding its true value.”
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