Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana prompted an uproar at Artwork Basel Miami Seaside in 2019 and rapidly went viral as an emblem of the absurdism of the modern artwork market, although Cattelan himself described Comic (2019), his first “sculpture” in 15 years, as “a honest commentary and a mirrored image on what we worth”. That worth will likely be put to the check subsequent month, when one of many three editions of Comic goes up on the market at Sotheby’s New York.
Made up of a banana duct taped to the wall, the work features a certificates of authenticity and directions for how one can show the sculpture. The work, which was priced at $120,000 on the Perrotin gallery stand at Artwork Basel Miami Seaside in 2019, is estimated by Sotheby’s to promote for between $1m and $1.5m. A single banana and one roll of duct tape are included within the sale, the public sale home stated.
“If at its core, Comic questions the very notion of the worth of artwork, then placing the work at public sale this November would be the final realisation of its important conceptual concept—the general public will lastly have a say in deciding its true worth,” David Galperin, Sotheby’s head of latest artwork within the Americas, stated in a press release.
The world went bananas for Comic upon its debut. Crowds queued to see the work at Perrotin’s stand, and days later the banana graced the quilt of the New York Publish with the headline: “BANANAS! Artwork world gone mad”. A efficiency artist even took a chunk. (The banana has been eaten a minimum of twice whereas on public show). The work needed to be eliminated earlier than the tip of the honest over “uncontrollable crowd actions”, Perrotin stated.
Three editions of Comic have been bought on the artwork honest; it’s unclear which was consigned to Sotheby’s. One was bought by Sarah Andelman, the founding father of the high-end Parisian store Collette that shuttered in 2017. (Earlier this yr, she curated Artwork Basel’s first retail retailer.) One other version was bought to the Miami collectors William and Beatrice Cox, who promised to donate theirs to a museum (an version was later donated anonymously to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York). A 3rd was bought by an nameless collector, in accordance with Perrotin. The work was so in-demand on the time that even Damien Hirst lamented about not having the ability to get his fingers on one.
Comic will likely be bought at Sotheby’s The Now and Modern public sale on 20 November after happening show in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles. It is without doubt one of the flashiest consignments in a comparatively subdued public sale season. Probably the most precious consignment introduced to this point is René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (1954), anticipated by Christie’s to promote for greater than $95m.
