Going Bananas
As we all know, artwork provides us with a very personal experience, the same piece filling some with joy and others with distaste. And sometimes, it can provide us with laughter and confusion, as best conveyed by the recent sale of a conceptual piece entitled Comedian.
In actuality, the sale of this particular piece of art was for the purchase of the Certificate of Authenticity so the buyer could reproduce the piece himself. And the piece was . . . a banana duct-taped to a wall. AND it sold for $6.2 million. Actually, it sold for $5.2 million with an additional million being paid as fees to the auction house, Southby’s.
The banana COA was purchased by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun who, according to NPR and The Associated Press said the piece “represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.”
Mr. Sun also said:
“Additionally, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.”
This won’t be the first time this piece of art has been eaten and you can read more about it and the artist, Maurizio Cattelan, at the following link:
If it was the artist’s intent to make us laugh, I believe he succeeded. If it was the artist's intent to shock us, I think he managed to do that as well.
When I first heard about this, I was flooded with emotions. I felt offended that someone who did this could call himself an artist. I was insulted that the artist would even think I would view this as art. And I was angry at Mr. Sun for spending so much money on a piece of banana art when he could be feeding the world on $6.2 million worth of bananas or by simply donating this amount of money to our food banks.
On the positive side, it gave me hope that anything I choose to contribute to the art world may actually stand a chance. Perhaps I can create a sculpture utilizing my empty Tums bottles.