‘Comedian’ by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, a duct-taped banana, sells for millions at art auction

A piece of art that is little more than a banana duct-taped to a wall sold at auction for $US6.2 million ($A9.5 million) to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, Sotheby’s says, furthering the universal conversation about what constitutes art.

‘Comedian’ by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan first rocked the art world upon its debut at Miami’s Art Basel in 2019, drawing such large crowds that the exhibit had to be taken down for public safety and to protect other works on display.

At Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday, it went from a starting price of $US800,000 to $US5.2 million when the hammer fell about five minutes later, plus a buyer’s premium, or fee.

Bidding soared past the pre-sale high estimate of $US1.5 million, Sotheby’s said, with bidders in the room, on the phone and online.

Sun, the Chinese collector and founder of the cryptocurrency Tron, placed the winning bid over the phone. He paid in crypto and it will be the buyer’s responsibility to replace the banana as it rots, according to Artnet.com.

“This is not just an artwork,” Sun said in a statement to Sotheby’s. “It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”

Sun said he would eat the banana, as at least two spectators have done in other galleries on the piece’s trip around the world.

Cattelan is known for other bold works such as a golden toilet and a sculpture of the pope struck down by a meteorite.

Art experts said in a Sotheby’s video about the work that it was funny, absurd and a symbol of the excess of the art market, likening it to the Banksy work Girl with Balloon that shredded itself during a Sotheby’s auction in London in 2018.