Duct-taped banana artist says his work is a ‘provocation’ on value of art

The Italian artist who created the banana duct-taped to a wall that sold this week for US$6.2 million, said in an interview published on Friday that the work was a “provocation” and an invitation to appreciate the true value of art.

“Comedian,” by Maurizio Cattelan, was snapped up on Wednesday at auction at Sotheby’s in New York by Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun. It first rocked the art world in 2019 on its debut at Miami’s Art Basel.

“It’s a provocation that invites us to reflect on the value of art and the dynamics of (this) market, pushing us to question what this work says about us as viewers,” Cattelan told Italian daily La Repubblica.

The piece of art, whose first version was made with a banana that cost 25 cents, on Wednesday went from a starting price of $800,000 to $5.2 million, plus a buyer’s fee.

“It’s the market that has decided to take a banana stuck on the wall so seriously. If the system is so frail to slip on a banana skin, maybe it was already slippery,” Cattelan added.

The artist, 64, is known for his hyper-realistic installations and sculptures, which include a fake horse dangling from a ceiling, the late pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite and a marble hand with a raised middle finger outside Milan’s Stock Exchange.

Cattelan also said he was fast asleep when his banana piece went under the hammer, dreaming that his favorite soccer team Atalanta would beat AC Milan at an upcoming Serie A home game.

“‘Comedian’ is a laugh against a tired system, an invitation to rediscover the power of irony and simplicity,” the artist said.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Alvise Armellini and Kate Mayberry)