Artist behind duct-taped banana explains the piece [Video]

The Italian artist who created the banana duct-taped to a wall that sold this week for US$6.2 million, said in an interview published on Friday that the work was a “provocation” and an invitation to appreciate the true value of art.

“Comedian,” by Maurizio Cattelan, was snapped up on Wednesday at auction at Sotheby’s in New York by Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun. It first rocked the art world in 2019 on its debut at Miami’s Art Basel.

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“It’s a provocation that invites us to reflect on the value of art and the dynamics of (this) market, pushing us to question what this work says about us as viewers,” Cattelan told Italian daily La Repubblica.

The piece of art, whose first version was made with a banana that cost 25 cents, on Wednesday went from a starting price …