On Friday, Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased Maurizio Cattelan’s comedianLast week, a banana taped to the wall sold for $6.20, and he made good on his promise to eat it.
Immediately after purchasing the controversial artwork at Sotheby’s in New York, Sun announced on X that he would not only pay for it with TRON, the cryptocurrency he created, but also spend it.
In front of reporters at one of Hong Kong’s most expensive hotels, Sun munched on a banana after delivering a speech praising the artwork as “iconic.” He also compared concept art to cryptocurrencies.
“It’s much better than other bananas,” Sun told reporters. “Very good indeed.”
The 34-year-old said he was “very interested” in the work and admitted he had “silly questions” about whether the bananas were rotten.
Justin Sun is one of seven bidders, including cryptocurrency enthusiast collectors Ryan Zurrer and Cosmomo di’ Medici, vying for the comedian. He said he felt “disbelief” in the first few seconds after realizing he had won the jackpot, but soon realized “this could be something big”. He said he decided to eat a banana in the next 10 seconds.
“Eating it at a press conference can also be part of the history of the artwork,” Sun said on Friday. During the performance, he compared conceptual art to decentralized blockchain technology and NFT art. “most [conceptual art’s] objects and ideas exist in [intellectual property] On the internet, not physically,” he added.
Earlier this week, Sun, an avid art collector, revealed that he was investing $30 million in cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial, which has the support of US President-elect Donald Trump.
This isn’t the first time Cattelan’s work, of which there are three versions, has been eaten. In 2019, one edition sold for $190,000 at Art Basel in Miami and was devoured by performance artist David Datuna. “My art show. I love Maurizio Cattelan’s art and really love this installation. Very tasty,” he posted on Instagram.
Last year, a South Korean student was filmed ripping a banana off the wall at the Leeum Art Museum in Seoul and then eating part of it. Then he glued the peel back to the wall. When asked why he did this, the student said he was hungry and argued that “damaging a modern work of art can also cause harm.” [interpreted as] artwork. ”
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Each banana contains comedianrepresented by a certificate of ownership, which is replaced every two to three days when shown.
Last Wednesday, before the work was auctioned at Sotheby’s, a fresh banana was purchased from a street vendor near the auction house for 35 cents to be used in the installation. We have since set up a GoFundMe page for the fruit vendor, a 74-year-old immigrant named Shah Alam, and have raised more than $10,000 for him so far.
At a press conference in Hong Kong on Friday, Sun gave attendees a banana and a roll of tape as souvenirs.
