A conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian,” is just a fruit-stand banana taped on the wall. But 7 bidders were biting. It went to a crypto entrepreneur.

In the Sotheby’s Auction House sale room — an intimate, carpeted seventh-floor auditorium on the Upper East Side — it’s not uncommon to see standing-room-only attendance. Or for the bidding crowd, many holding martinis or champagne glasses,

A cryptocurrency entrepreneur who identified himself as the buyer of a viral artwork depicting a yellow banana duct-taped to a wall said he will eat the fruit as part of a “unique artistic experience.

Forget your 99-cent grocery store banana—this one could cost you $1.5 million. No, it’s not genetically engineered or dipped in gold; it’s a regular banana

Here's what happened when Sotheby's auctioned off Maurizio Cattelan's duct-taped banana on Wednesday evening in New York.

Comedian, Maurizio Cattelan’s instant classic, sold for more than quadruple some estimates at Sotheby’s this week. How one work, and its worth, both satirizes and explains the meme-y days ahead.

A $121.2 million René Magritte. A $68.3 million Ed Ruscha. And don’t forget that $6.2 million banana that sold for six times its asking price. To anyone looking in, the art market appeared to come roaring back this week—but it’s anyone’s guess if the party will last.

A banana duct-taped to a white wall — or an acclaimed piece of art, depending on how you look at it — sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $US6.24 ($A9.57) million on Wednesday. Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian is comprised simply of a banana stuck to the wall with a strip of silver duct tape and is hung exactly 160cm from the floor.

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