In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan bought a banana for 30 cents at a Miami Beach supermarket, added a piece of silver duct tape, and attached it to the wall of his gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin’s booth at Art Basel. Thus was born Comedian, the artwork that, years later, continues to spark debate and is now set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York, with an estimated sale price between $1 and $1.5 million.
The installation is not about “that” specific banana or “that” piece of tape, but about the concept that connects them. Even though the fruit on display will be replaced, the idea remains unchanged, making this creation a manifesto of contemporary conceptual art, much like Marcel Duchamp’s iconic urinal or Banksy’s Love is in the Bin.
Comedian quickly became a global phenomenon, dividing critics, artists, and the general public. Initially sold for $120,000 in two editions, the third edition was purchased for $150,000 by an anonymous donor for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Meanwhile, the original banana was eaten by artist David Datuna in a performance titled Hungry Artist, raising new questions about the concept of ephemeral art and its permanence.
Many detractors see the work as a provocative gesture, perhaps devoid of substance, but the reality is more complex. The artist himself explained that the fruit is a symbol of society and the art market.
The brilliance of the work lies in the fact that whoever buys it is not purchasing a mere object, but an idea. The 14-page installation manual, detailing how to position the banana at a 37 degree angle, 5,74 feet from the ground, and the need to replace it every 7-10 days, underscores the intrinsic irony of the piece.
And while this quintessentially ephemeral symbol is replaced, the idea endures. Cattelan’s installation is not a work you can hang in your living room, nor one you can simply “understand.” It is a symbol of the complexity of contemporary art, challenging viewers to look beyond the surface to grasp the profound meaning hidden behind an apparently simple gesture.
