On the evening of November 20, Sotheby’s auction house sold an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan for an astonishing sum. The piece, entitled Comedian, is not a conventional painting or sculpture. It consists of an ordinary banana, duct-taped to a wall at a jaunty angle. The hammer price? A staggering US$6.2 million (£4.9 million).

The widespread incredulity surrounding this exorbitant price has been tinged with humour. The sale has been perceived by many as a kind of jest at the expense of the buyer, Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.

It has even spawned its own meme and hash-tag, #BTW, which stands for “Banana Tape Wall”. Sun took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to say he was “thrilled” with his purchase and would be eating the banana in the coming days.

Bananas have a rich comedic history. Given that Comedian is the title of the artwork, we are seemingly invited to conclude that Sun’s purchase itself is an unintentional pratfall – a slip on a banana peel.

However, Cattelan claims that Comedian serves as “a sincere commentary on what we value” rather than merely a joke. Exploring Comedian’s place within the realm of conceptual art reveals its implications for our understanding of value, the role of technology – and the evolving relationship between art and finance.

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