'Comedian', the art piece by concept artist Maurizio Cattelan that caused a stir in the art world at its presentation at Art Basel Miami in 2019, will go on sale at a Sotheby's auction in New York on November 20 for a price of one million dollars. The piece, which consists of a banana taped to the wall, will be a highlight of the auction house's contemporary and current art sale, which it also plans to exhibit on a ten-city world tour, starting in New York.
"If 'Comedian' fundamentally questions the very notion of the value of art, then putting the work up for auction in November will be the ultimate realization of its essential conceptual idea: the public will finally have a say in deciding its true value," stated David Galperin, Sotheby's head of contemporary art in the Americas.
Cattelan, who is not new to controversy, sold three copies of 'Comedian' during his presentation at Art Basel: two for $120,000 and one for $150,000. The latter is for the collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
It's worth recalling that an artist ingested this work in a performance and that another artist accused Cattelan of plagiarism, although Cattelan won the trial.
Source: eldiario.es