Sun Yuchen ate the banana from the artwork "Comedian", which he bought for 6.24 million dollars
On November 29, Sun Yuchen ate the banana from his artwork "Comedian", which he had won at a Sotheby's auction, at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. He claimed it tasted much better than other bananas. At the scene, Sun shared his auction experience: "As conceptual art, this banana has received high attention across different languages and circles. Even ChatGPT can't stop praising it as one of the most famous phenomena of 21st-century art... Initially I didn’t understand the work deeply and just found it interesting. I was curious whether preservatives were added to keep it fresh for five years; I studied history at Peking University and saw how art evolved from David and Mona Lisa to postmodernism... Before participating in the auction, I wasn’t very confident with an internal estimate between $2 million to $5 million dollars knowing there were seven other bidders… The first ten seconds after winning were unbelievable - coming here just for fun felt unreal but also happy; In the next ten seconds, my colleague received an interview invitation from media outlets making me realize that this banana would become a big event; In another ten seconds later, I decided to eat it because its story itself constituted an artwork. The banana is both meme and IP with significant historical meaning."
On November 21st during Sotheby’s New York “NOW Contemporary Art Evening Auction”, Maurizio Cattelan’s work “Comedian” made out of a banana taped on wall sold for $6.24 million after being called up 32 times.
Soon afterwards Sun Yuchen announced on X that he was buyer of Cattelan's piece and declared that he would eat this banana in few days time." This is not merely an artwork," said Sun," It represents a cultural phenomenon connecting worlds of art,meme,and cryptocurrency communities.I believe this piece will stimulate more thoughts,discussions,and become part of history in the future."
"Comedian" first appeared at the 2019 Miami Basel Art Fair, priced at $150,000 and was quickly purchased by collectors. There are three versions of this work; one version is collected by the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Each "work" comes with a corresponding collection certificate, allowing buyers to replace the banana according to their preference.
Odaily comments: Compared to Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain", which debuted a century ago - an overturned urinal placed on a pedestal signed R.Mutt that subverted traditional art forms and became an important footnote for contemporary art due to its dissolution of seriousness and creative threshold - "Comedian", composed of a banana, tape, installation manual and authenticity certificate has more implications of “Ship of Theseus”. If we say that "Comedian" extends discussions about materiality & existence as well as identity & essence then Sun Yuchen eating the banana live based on today’s Meme culture further amplifies art through dissemination while elevating value through action.
