His collecting strategy seems to follow a precise pattern: focus on works that generate debate and media attention, such as Cattelan’s banana. “This is not just a work of art, it represents a cultural phenomenon that unites the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community,” he declared after the purchase of Comedian. Sun is also known for his controversial moves in the cryptocurrency market, one example being postponing at the last minute a $4.5 million dinner with American investor Warren Buffett, which he won through a charity auction. The dinner was held in 2020, with Sun attempting to convert the legendary investor to cryptocurrency.
Success between art and provocation
The rise of Cattelan’s banana on the art market represents a unique case in recent history. When it was first presented in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, the work sparked a global debate about the meaning of contemporary art and attracted record crowds, to the point that organizers were forced to remove it from the building for safety reasons. . The three original editions were sold in a matter of hours: two were valued at $120,000 each, while for the third the gallery owner raised the price to $150,000, with the aim of selling it to a museum. The strategy was successful: one of the specimens was donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York by an anonymous collector. Another ended up in the hands of a Florida supermarket chain. The third is the one that has just been auctioned at Sotheby’s.
The work was made even more famous by two episodes of “performative vandalism”; as you remember The Guardian, The New York artist David Datuna tore and ate the banana during an exhibition in Miami, an act that was later replicated in May 2023 by a South Korean art student during an exhibition in Seoul. In both cases, following the artist’s instructions, the fruit was simply replaced. The Sotheby’s auction catalog cited by ThePostindicates that “no other work of art of the 21st century has caused such a scandal, ignited the imagination and disrupted the very definition of contemporary art as Comedian”. Before the record sale, the work went on a world tour to nine cities, including Dubai, Taipei, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. At Sotheby’s New York headquarters, more than 12,000 visitors were able to admire it in the two weeks prior to the auction.
The Padua, Italy-born artist known for his provocative works, including a solid gold toilet titled “America,” has always championed the profound meaning of Comedian: “It wasn’t a joke, but a reflection on what we value. I could play within the system, but with my own rules.”
The group of hackers RansomHub claims the cyberattack on Christie’s with a publication on the dark web and threatens to reveal the confidential information of the company’s clients.
The new record and future prospects
The price achieved by Cattelan’s banana, impressive as it may be, is far from the absolute records of the art market. In 2017, ‘Salvator Mundi‘ by Leonardo da Vinci sold for $450.3 million, becoming the most expensive work sold at auction. Among living artists, the record belongs to Jeff Koons for ‘Rabbit‘ (Rabbit), a stainless steel sculpture, which sold in 2019 for $91.1 million.
The success of ‘Comedian‘ at the auction follows another significant record a few days later:
‘The Empire of Light‘ (The Empire of Lights) by René Magritte, sold at Christie’s for $121.6 milliondemonstrating the resilience of high-end art despite the uncertain economic environment. The market’s response was clear: the work is part of a tradition of revolutionary works that have redefined the limits of art, since ‘Fountain‘ (Source) from Marcel Duchamp in 1917 until ‘Love is in the bin‘ (Love is in the trash) by Banksy, which self-destructed during an auction in 2018.
Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Alondra Flores.
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