Viral banana art work: Crypto entrepreneur makes buy for $6.2M, then eats it

Crypto entrepreneur Justin Solar bought Maurizio Cattelan’s famed banana duct-taped to a wall artwork for $6.2 million. But it surely did not final lengthy, as Solar instantly ate it.

This marks the third time somebody has publicly eaten the Italian artist’s conceptual artwork titled “Comic,” which is comprised merely of a banana mounted with duct tape to a wall. This time, it occurred days after Solar gained the artwork Sotheby’s artwork public sale in New York.

Solar, who based the Tron blockchain in 2017, was filmed consuming the viral fruit throughout an information convention in Hong Kong on Friday. To commemorate the second, he posted just a little tongue-in-cheek touch upon X in regards to the style of the viral fruit.

VIRAL BANANA ARTWORK DUCT-TAPED TO WATHE LL SELLS FOR $6.2M

“To be sincere, for a banana with such a again story, the style is of course different from a bizarre one. I may discern a touch of what Massive Mike bananas from 100 years in the past might need to be tasted like,” he wrote.

The successful bidder is not meant to purchase the banana itself. The public sale home beforehand advised FOX Enterprise that the winner truly receives a roll of duct tape, one banana, a certificate of authenticity, and official directions for putting in the work, the public sale home mentioned.

With the most recent buy, founder and artwork adviser of The Company Artwork Home Arushi Kapoor advised FOX Enterprise that Solar is “bridging the hole between the crypto world and the normal artwork scene,” which she mentioned has “historically maintained excessive boundaries for non-traditional collectors.”

Now, with extra tech lovers coming into the fold, she mentioned it’s”fostering inclusivity and broadening participation.”

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“Solar seems to completely grasp the conceptual essence of ‘Comic’ like its commentary on the significance of promoting consumerism in modern tradition,” Kapoor mentioned. “There is also discussion now that he has provided to buy 100,000 bananas from the unique vendor, who bought them for mere cents – additional including to the artwork’s dialogue on consumerism, but in addition giving again to the foundation of the bodily work, the seller who bought it.”

Justin Solar, the founding father of Tron, eats a banana that types a part of the artwork “Comic” by the artist Maurizio Cattelan, which Solar purchased for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York, throughout an information convention in Hong Kong Nov. 29, 2024.  ( Justin Chin/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Kapoor added that it “stays to be seen whether or not Solar will proceed this follow or redefine the work completely by not changing the eaten banana.”

Sotheby’s praised the artwork which carried an estimated worth between $1 million to $1.5 million earlier than bidding, as the one piece of artwork from the twenty-first century that “has provoked scandal, sparked creativeness, and upended the very definition of latest artwork.”

Whereas the artwork is small, measuring 20 cm by 20 cm by 5 cm, Sotheby’s head of latest artwork for the Americas, David Galperin, described it as “probably the most influential and radical artworks of the final century.”

Justin Solar, the founding father of Tron, prepares to eat a banana that types a part of the artwork “Comic” by the artist Maurizio Cattelan, which Solar purchased for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York, through a formation convention in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2024. ( Justin Chin/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

In 2019, when Cattelan’s “Comic” debuted in Miami, it was met with confusion and in some instances, amusement. However, the piece gained international consideration following its $120,000 price ticket at Artwork Basel. A social media debate rapidly ensued regarding the nature and worth of artwork.

In December 2019, when Comic’s set up at Perrotin’s sales space was unveiled, Sotheby’s mentioned the crowds had been so overwhelming that the artwork needed to be de-installed earlier than the tip of the truth All three editions of the artwork had been bought.

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“Broadly honored, and hotly contested – and eaten not solely as soon as, however twice – the work headlined information tales shared around the globe,” Sotheby’s wrote.