The art world has seen some bizarre works being sold for a hefty sum and this time the netizens are struggling with the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's work the 'Comedian'. It is on display at an exhibition in the Art Basel Miami, a festival run by Galerie Perrotin. The artwork, which depicts bananas duct-taped to the wall was sold for a sum of $120,000 to French collectors.
Social media has been going bananas over the duct-taped banana. Most of the twitter population found this hard-work difficult to swallow. Cattelan is known for his work 'America', which was a toilet made out of 18-carat gold. He is often known for being a prankster when it comes to art.
According to a statement given by the artist to Artnet, an online news resource for the international art market, the banana symbolizes nothing. The idea came to the Cattelan over a year ago. The angle the fruit was placed in the booth and the way it is taped to the wall was carefully considered. The gallery said that the initial idea behind the work was to create a banana sculpture.
Cattelan worked on several models including in resin and bronze but came back to the initial idea of the real banana. It is unclear as to whether the collector would replace the banana as it begins to spoil. The gallery is planning to change the banana at the end of the week.
One of the interesting facts about the art world is that people spend money on high-end paintings and sculptures. The art investment the world over amounts to a whopping $1.74 trillion. China too has seen an upsurge of interest in art collection recently. Currently, China is in the third position in terms of investments in the art market.
