The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction

Maurizio Cattelan

Comedian

Accepts Crypto

Guaranteed PropertyCryptocurrency Payments

Live auction begins in:

21:18:30

•

November 21, 12:00 AM GMT

Estimate

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Maurizio Cattelan

b. 1960

Comedian

banana and duct tape

7 ⅞ by 7 ⅞ by 2 in.

20 by 20 by 5 cm.

(installation dimensions variable)

Executed in 2019, this work is number 2 from an edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs.

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Additional Conditions of Sale for Payment by Cryptocurrency: This Lot is eligible for payment in cryptocurrencies. Any payments for this Lot made in cryptocurrency will be subject to following terms (which terms shall supersede and override Condition 8(b) of the Conditions of Business for Buyers with respect to this Lot) in addition to the terms set forth in Condition 8(a) of the Conditions of Business for Buyers. (i) We will accept payment in cryptocurrency only for this Lot, in cryptocurrencies that are supported by our cryptocurrency payment processor at the time of payment. (ii) We will provide an invoice with a payment link for payment in cryptocurrency through our cryptocurrency payment processor. The amount due will be the cryptocurrency equivalent at the time payment is made of the amount invoiced. (iii) Payments in cryptocurrency will not be accepted other than in accordance with these terms. If you make payment in cryptocurrency other than in accordance with these terms, including where we determine or reasonably believe, in our sole discretion, that any of your representations and warranties are inaccurate, incomplete or breached, we may, in our sole discretion, return those funds to you, hold you responsible for all third-party fees (including, without limitation, network fees, taxes, transfer fees, etc.), and require you to pay in the fiat currency of the sale. In addition, in the event we make any refund of Taxes to you and you paid such Taxes using cryptocurrency, you understand and agree that we may, at our sole discretion, refund you (1) the same amount(s) of the same cryptocurrency that you paid to us for such Taxes; (2) the amount(s) in fiat currency that we invoiced to you for such Taxes; or (3) the fiat currency equivalent at the time the refund is made of the amount(s) of cryptocurrency that you paid for such Taxes. In no circumstance will you be entitled to receive any appreciation on the value of the cryptocurrency that you provided to us as payment in connection with a refund. (iv) Once you initiate a cryptocurrency transaction, the transaction cannot be reversed; this is inherent in the nature of cryptocurrencies and not a policy set by us. You are responsible for verifying that you have sent the correct amount to the correct digital wallet address. (v) If you make payment in cryptocurrency from a digital wallet or account, you represent and warrant the following: (1) you own the digital wallet and the cryptocurrency used to make payment; (2) the digital wallet or account is not directly or indirectly hosted, operated, or otherwise controlled by anyone that is the subject of Sanctions or located, resident, or organized in a Sanctioned Jurisdiction; (3) the cryptocurrency or any other assets in the digital wallet or account used for the bid or purchase were not sourced from anyone that is the subject of Sanctions or located, resident, or organized in a Sanctioned Jurisdiction; and (4) your payment in cryptocurrency will not cause (or otherwise result in) us, Sellers, or anyone else to violate any Sanctions, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, or any other applicable laws. We may, in our sole discretion, refuse payment in cryptocurrency from any Buyer if we reasonably determine any of the Buyer’s representations or warranties are, or would be as a result of such payment, inaccurate, incomplete or breached. (vi) We shall have no liability for any payment made by you in cryptocurrency that is not received by us for whatever reason. (vii) You acknowledge the risks inherent to the use of cryptocurrency, including without limitation the risk of faulty or insufficient hardware, software, and internet connections; the risk of introduction or intrusion of malicious code or software; the risk of hacking or unauthorized access to your digital wallet or information stored therein, or of theft or diversion of funds therefrom; volatility and unstable or unfavorable exchange rates; and the risk of unfavorable regulatory intervention and/or tax treatment in relation to transaction in such currency. We will have no liability for any of the foregoing.

Perrotin, New York

Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2019)

White Cube

Acquired from the above by the present owner

The below is a representative selection of the extensive ongoing media coverage of Comedian. Live coverage is ongoing, and further literature references are available on request

Sarah Cascone, “Maurizio Cattelan Is Taping Bananas to a Wall at Art Basel Miami Beach and Selling Them for $120,000 Each,” Artnet News, 4 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Luke O’Neil, “One banana, what could it cost? $120,000 – if it's art,” The Guardian, 6 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Guy Trebay, “The $120,000 Banana Wins Art Basel,” The New York Times, 6 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Mara Siegler, “Bananas! Art world gone mad - this duct-taped fruit sold for $120k,” New York Post, 6 December 2019, illustrated in color (on the cover) and p. 3, illustrated in color

Graham Russell, “Banana artwork that fetched $120,000 is eaten by 'hungry' artist,” The Guardian, 7 December 2019 (text) (online)

Javier Pes, “Maurizio Cattelan’s $120,000 Banana Was Ejected From Art Basel Miami Beach After Drawing Unsafe Crowds (and Getting Eaten),” Artnet News, 7 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Scott Simon, “Opinion: This Art Is Bananas,” NPR, 7 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Thom Waite, “An artist has sold a banana taped to a wall for $120,000 and people are mad,” Dazed, 7 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

James Grebey, “This Banana Was Duct-Tape to a Wall, it Sold for $120,000,” GQ, 7 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Robin Pogrebin, “Banana Splits: Spoiled by Its Own Success, the $120,000 Fruit Is Gone,” The New York Times, 8 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Alexandra Chaves, “Why we’re so upset about the $120,000 banana on the wall,” The National, 8 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Jason Farago, “A (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana,” The New York Times, 8 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Sarah Cascone, “How the Unhinged Reaction to Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana Revealed the Thin Line Between the Art World and Total Anarchy,” Artnet News, 9 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Jonathan Jones, “Don't make fun of the $120,000 banana – it's in on the joke,” The Guardian, 9 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Brian P. Kelly, “In Defense of Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana,” The Wall Street Journal, 9 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Sebastian Smee, “The Art Basel banana was art, and the peals of outrage were one layer of it,” The Washington Post, 9 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Steph Eckardt, “The Saga of Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana at Art Basel Miami Beach,” W Magazine, 9 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Caroline Elbaor, “Buyers of Maurizio Cattelan’s $120,000 Banana Defend the Work as ‘the Unicorn of the Art World,’ Comparing It to Warhol’s Soup Cans,” Artnet News, 10 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Elise Taylor, "The $120,000 Art Basel Banana, Explained," Vogue, 10 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Sebastian Smee, “Don’t ask if the duct-tape banana is art. Ask if it’s any good.,” The Washington Post, 12 December 2019, illustrated in color (online)

Aaina Bhargava, “From blow-up Banksy to that banana, the most memorable and sensational art events of the past 10 years,” South China Morning Post, 19 December 2019 (online)

Christina Elia, “Maurizio Cattelan: King of Conceptual Comedy,” The Collector, 18 April 2020, illustrated in color (online)

Anny Shaw, “Damien Hirst offers to swap any work for viral duct-tape banana—but Maurizio Cattelan says no,” The Art Newspaper, 19 August 2020

Graham Bowley, “It’s a Banana. It’s Art. And Now It’s the Guggenheim’s Problem.,” The New York Times, 18 September 2020 (online)

Sarah Cascone, “Maurizio Cattelan’s Much Adored (and Maligned) Banana Artwork Is Now in the Guggenheim’s Collection Thanks to an Anonymous Donor,” Artnet News, 18 September 2020 (online)

Sara Callahan, “The value of a banana: understanding absurd and ephemeral artwork,” The Conversation, 8 October 2020 (online)

Vivienne Chow, “‘People Think About Me When They See a Banana’: Artist Maurizio Cattelan on His Now-Viral Fame in China,” Artnet News, 14 December 2021 (online)

Thom Waite, “Court of a peel: the Art Basel banana faces fresh controversy,” Dazed, 12 July 2022 (online)

Namita Singh, “Student eats $120,000 Italian artwork of banana duct taped to wall,” The Independent, 1 May 2023 (online)

Dani Di Placido, “Someone Ate The $120,000 Duct Tape Banana, Again,” Forbes, 1 May 2023 (online)

Bill Chappell, “The guy who ate a $120,000 banana in an art museum says he was just hungry,” NPR, 1 May 2023, illustrated in color (in installation) (online)

Bryan Pietsch, “A banana duct-taped to a wall was art. A student said eating it was, too.,” The Washington Post, 2 May 2023 (online)

Teresa Nowakowski, “Someone Ate Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana Again,” Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2023 (online)

Noh Hyun-soo, “Experience: I ate a $120,000 banana,” The Guardian, 23 June 2023 (text) (online)

Gareth Harris, “A provocative new work from the artist behind that duct-taped banana tackles gun violence in America,” CNN Style, 3 May 2024 (online)

Jerry Saltz, “Maurizio Cattelan’s Enormous Wall of Kitsch,” Vulture, 27 May 2024 (text) (online)

Katya Kazakina, “Maurizio Cattelan’s Infamous Banana Will Be Sold at Sotheby’s. The Estimate: $1 Million,” Artnet News, 24 October 2024 (online)

Shawn Ghassemitari, “Maurizio Cattelan’s Duct-Taped Banana to Hit Sotheby’s Auction,” Hypebeast, 24 October 2024 (online)

Carlie Porterfield, “Maurizio Cattelan’s famous duct-taped banana could bring more than $1m at auction,” The Art Newspaper, 24 October 2024, illustrated in color (online)

Sofía Campos “The banana stuck to the wall that divided the art world, up for auction for 1 million dollars,” La Razón, 25 October 2024, illustrated in color (online)

Oscar Holland, “This viral banana artwork on sale again — and it could now be worth $1.5 million,” CNN Style, 25 October 2024, illustrated in color (online)

Casey Cooper-Fiske, “Artwork of banana duct-taped to wall estimated to sell for more than £1m,” The Independent, 25 October 2024 (online)

Thom Waite, “Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous banana is going to auction at $1 million,” Dazed, 25 October 2024 (online)

James Tarmy, “The Duct Taped Banana Is Coming to Auction Asking $1 Million,” Bloomberg, 25 October 2024 (online)

Eleanor Dye, “That's bananas! Sotheby's auctions a piece of fruit taped to a wall for £1.5million… and there's a BIZARRE catch,” Daily Mail, 25 October 2024 (online)

Galerie Perrotin, Art Basel Miami, December 2019

Beijing, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, The Last Judgment, November 2021 - February 2022 (another edition)

Beijing, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art; and Shenzhen, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Maurizio Cattelan: Wish You Were Here, July - October 2022 (another edition)

Seoul, Leeum Museum of Art, WE, January - July 2023 (another edition)

Rome, Palazzo Bonaparte, Sembra Vivo!, May - October 2023 (another edition)

Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, NGV Triennial, December 2023 - April 2024, pp. 208-09, 360, illustrated in color (another edition)