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Clown World: Artist’s Duct-Taped Banana Sells for the Price of a House

(RT) The art world is known for taking the mundane and turning it into something unique and beautiful, but netizens are struggling to justify the hefty $120,000 price tag placed on several bananas duct-taped to a wall.

The work ‘Comedian’ by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is on display at Art Basel Miami in an exhibition run by contemporary art gallery Perrotin. According to Artnet, two of three editions have already been sold to two French collectors with the third now priced at $150,000, which will be sold to a museum.

“The banana,” explains Cattelan, “is supposed to be a banana.” The artist reportedly brought a banana with him and hung it on the wall in his hotel room to find inspiration. He also made several variations including one in resin, then in bronze before he eventually settled on the natural banana as a centerpiece, according to Galerie Perrotin.

However, he did elaborate a little further on the exorbitantly priced produce, describing bananas as a “a symbol of global trade, a double entendre, as well as a classic device for humor.” 

The bananas were bought in a Miami grocery store and were affixed to the display wall with a single piece of duct tape. The artist has given no indication about what collectors are to do when the bananas begin to decompose.

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