This is ― and we can’t stress this enough ― literally bananas.
A banana duct taped to the wall of an art gallery has reportedly sold for a whopping $120,000, proving that Lucille Bluth’s assessment that a banana could potentially cost $10 was wildly off.
On Friday, the art world took center stage on social media as word spread that Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s fruit-centric piece titled “Comedian” sold for six figures after being featured at Art Basel show in the Galerie Perrotin.
Three editions of the banana-tape-to-the-wall art piece were up for sale, two of which have already been sold, according to CBS News. The publication noted that the last one is expected to go for $150,000.
Perrotin’s Instagram account explains that the piece’s objective is to offer “insight into how we assign worth and what kind of objects we value” and that Cattelan had a habit of taping bananas to his hotel room walls when he traveled in an effort to “find inspiration.”
“He made several models: first in resin, then in bronze and in painted bronze for finally coming back to the initial idea of a real banana,” reads the post.
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Unlike diamonds, bananas are not forever so those who purchased the art are in for a rude awakening when the bananas rot and ruin their walls. Though, as noted in the Miami Herald, “owners can replace the banana, as needed.”
Cattelan’s art has always had a whimsical quality to it. In the past, he’s been responsible for things like a sculpture of the pope getting struck down by a meteorite and a fully functional 18-karat golden toilet.
The toilet, called “America,” debuted three years ago at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and was even offered to the White House. Oddly, the Trump administration declined the offer for the piece and the toilet has since been stolen (!).
HuffPost has reached out to the Galerie Perrotin and Cattelan for more information on his banana art.
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