Entitled “Comedian,” the artwork comprises a banana bought in a Miami grocery store and a single piece of duct tape. There are three editions, the gallery said, all of which were offered for sale.
Prior to the reported sale, the gallery’s founder, Emmanuel Perrotin, told CNN the bananas are “a symbol of global trade, a double entendre, as well as a classic device for humor,” adding that the artist turns mundane objects into “vehicles of both delight and critique.”
Potential buyers should note there are no clear instructions about what to do if the bananas start to decompose.
Artist Maurizio Cattelan pictured at a recent event in Milan, Italy. Credit: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images for Lavazza
According to a press statement from Galerie Perrotin, the artist first came up with the idea a year ago.
“Back then, Cattelan was thinking of a sculpture that was shaped like a banana,” it reads. “Every time he traveled, he brought a banana with him and hung it in his hotel room to find inspiration. He made several models: first in resin, then in bronze and in painted bronze (before) finally coming back to the initial idea of a real banana.”
The functioning toilet — titled “America” — had been part of Cattelan’s exhibition “Victory is Not an Option.”
CNN has reached out to Perrotin for further comments on the sale.