In a move that stunned the art world, cryptocurrency Billionaire Justin Sun consumed Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.2 million artwork. A banana duct-taped to a wall during a Hong Kong press conference. The act, which Sun described as "honoring art history," reignited global debates about value, absurdity, and inequality in contemporary art markets.
The artwork, titled Comedian, originally sold for $120,000 at Art Basel Miami in 2019 before skyrocketing to $6.2 million at Sotheby’s November 2024 auction. Sun, founder of the blockchain platform Tron, paid using cryptocurrency shortly after announcing a $30 million investment in Donald Trump’s crypto venture. Sotheby’s emphasized the piece’s conceptual nature, clarifying that buyers purchase a certificate of authenticity and installation instructions not the physical banana. "The artwork is the idea, not the object," a spokesperson stated.
Cattelan, known for satirizing capitalism, designed Comedian as a critique of art speculation. Ironically, its inflation mirrors post-pandemic asset bubbles: U.S. money supply surged from $14.4 trillion to $21.7 trillion since 2019, while tech stocks and real estate soared. Sun’s consumption of the banana first eaten by artist David Datuna at Art Basel drew sharp reactions. Cattelan quipped to The Art Newspaper, "He should’ve eaten the skin and tape too."
The banana’s origin highlights stark contrasts. Shah Alam, a Bangladeshi immigrant working at a Miami grocery store, sold the original fruit for $0.25 while earning $12/hour. Though Sun pledged to buy 100,000 bananas from Alam’s employer, the gesture yields Alam’s boss under $6,000 profit.
Sotheby’s defended the work, comparing its controversy to early Impressionism’s reception. Yet critics argue the stunt distracts from Sun’s ongoing SEC fraud charges. As galleries worldwide replicate Comedian using local bananas, the piece endures as a cultural Rorschach test.