A Gallery Sells This Banana Duct-Taped To A White Wall For Rs 85 Lakh

This artwork is making art collectors going banana. What’s so special about it? The artwork is essentially a real banana which is stick to an art gallery’s white wall using duct tape. And there are people who pay as much as $120,000 or Rs 85 Lakh for it.

The artwork called “Comedian” is from Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist. It was put on sale at the Miami Art Basel festival by Parisian gallery Perrotin. The artwork’s first edition was sold to an art collector from French at a dizzying price, $120,000 or Rs 85 Lakh. And if what Emmanuel Perrotin, the gallery owner, said was true, the second edition of the artwork had already been sold, again at that same mind-blowing price. Following the selling of the first two editions, the artist, as well as the gallery owner, had raised the third edition’s price to $150,000 or 1 crore.

When speaking with reporters, Emmanual Perrotin was even surprised that they were able to sell these artworks.

Apparently, in the world of artists, Cattelan is somewhat considered a prankster. The idea for the artwork came to the artist last year. Cattelan spent time taking into consideration different aspects, like the shape of the banana, where it should be stick to the wall, and the wall’s size. And in the beginning, he even thought about using a fake banana.

Perrotin Gallery issued a statement which reads:

If you are wondering why the price for the artwork is $120,000, apparently, the artist and the gallery owner tried to come up with something between insignificant and outlandish.

The Comedian artwork is such a hit at the Miami Art Basel, with people queuing up to take a selfie with it. Organizers don’t even have to worry that someone might steal the expensive artwork. If that does happen, they can replace it with another banana since after all without the authenticity certificate of Maurizio Cattelan, it is a banana that is stick to a white wall using duct tape.