A crypto entrepreneur who bought an artwork featuring a banana taped to a wall for $6.2m (£4.9m) has eaten the fruit.
Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, paid the eye-watering sun for ‘Comedian’, a conceptual work created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan at an auction at Sotheby’s New York last week.
But just days later he has fulfilled a promise to chomp down on the pricey artwork.
Speaking at one of Hong Kong’s most expensive hotels in front of dozens of influencers and journalists, Mr Sun said: "It's much better than other bananas. It's really quite good."
He told the press conference he felt "disbelief" in the first 10 seconds after he won the seven-way bid, before realising "this could become something big".
The entrepreneur said 10 seconds after that, he decided he would eat the banana.
"Eating it at a press conference can also become a part of the artwork's history," he said on Friday.
Previous editions of the artwork caused a stir when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach.
At one point, another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.
The piece attracted so much attention that it had to be withdrawn from view.
But three editions sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to the gallery handling sales at the time.
It also attracted heavy attention at the busy auction at Sotheby’s, with attendees in the crowded room holding up phones to take photos as two handlers wearing white gloves stood at both sides of the banana.
Bidding started at $800,000 and within minutes shot up to $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, and higher, as the auctioneer, Oliver Barker, joked “Don’t let it slip away.”
“Don’t miss this opportunity,” Mr Barker said. “These are words I’ve never thought I’d say: Five million dollars for a banana.”
The final hammer price announced in the room was $5.2 million, which didn’t include the about $1 million in auction house fees, paid by the buyer.
In a statement after buying ‘The Comedian’, Mr Sun said the piece “represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.”
But he also pledged the latest version of “Comedian” would not last long.
“Additionally, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honouring its place in both art history and popular culture,” Mr Sun said.
Sotheby’s calls Cattelan “among Contemporary Art’s most brilliant provocateurs.”
“He has persistently disrupted the art world’s status quo in meaningful, irreverent, and often controversial ways,” the auction house said in a description of ‘Comedian.’
