Duct-taped banana sold for Rs 52.7 crore at auction in New York. No, seriously

When Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian visual artist, duct-taped a banana to a wall in 2019, the art world went bananas — quite literally.
Now, that very concept, titled Comedian, has made headlines again when it was sold for a staggering $6.24 million (Rs 52.7 crores approximately) at an auction in New York on Wednesday.
The auctioneer, Oliver Barker, couldn’t resist the absurdity of the moment, calling the work “iconic” and “disruptive,” while joking about auctioning a banana, as reported by CNN.

The winner bidder, Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, praised the artwork as a bridge between art, memes, and cryptocurrency, dubbing it a “cultural phenomenon”.
“This is not just an artwork,” Sun said, as reported by CNN, adding, “It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
For the eye-watering price tag, Sun didn’t just get a banana and tape. He also received a certificate of authenticity, installation instructions, and, presumably, bragging rights, as per the report by CNN.
This isn’t Comedian’s first brush with fame – or controversy. At its 2019 debut at Art Basel Miami, the $120,00 price tag had split opinions. Critics debated whether it was a masterpiece or a practical joke, while performance artist David Datuna had once peeled the banana off the wall and ate it in what he described as his own “artistic performance.”
Since then, the piece has travelled, been eaten, and replaced repeatedly. Its latest outing was in South Korea, where an art student snacked on the installation, taping the peel back onto the wall.
Love it or loathe it, Comedian has firmly cemented itself in art history as a cheeky commentary on value, culture, and what we consider art – proving that sometimes, a banana isn’t just a banana.