Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun eats $9.5 million banana artwork Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan
Justin Sun ate the provocative work of conceptual art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan in Hong Kong.
In short:
A $9.5 million banana artwork has been eaten by a cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
Justin Sun purchased the controversial artwork by Maurizio Cattelan last week.
He says he expects the value of the work to go up, similar to Bitcoin.
A cryptocurrency entrepreneur has eaten a $US6.2 million ($9.5 million) banana artwork he purchased.
Justin Sun promised to eat the fruit after he purchased the artwork, featuring a banana duck-taped to a wall, last week.
Mr Sun chomped down on a banana in front of dozens of journalists and influencers at one of Hong Kong's most expensive hotels on Friday, after giving a speech hailing the work as "iconic" and drawing parallels between conceptual art and cryptocurrency.
"It's much better than other bananas," Mr Sun said after getting his first taste.
"It's really quite good."
The conceptual work — titled Comedian — was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and sold at a Sotheby's in New York, with Mr Sun among seven bidders.
He said he felt "disbelief" in the first 10 seconds after he won the bid, before realising "this could become something big".
Artist Maurizio Cattelan's piece of art "Comedian".
In the 10 seconds after that, he decided he would eat the banana.
"Eating it at a press conference can also become a part of the artwork's history," he said.
The debut of the edible creation at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach sparked controversy and raised questions about whether it should be considered art — Mr Cattelan's stated aim.
Fellow artist David Datuna caused a ruckus at the 2019 exhibition when he pulled the banana from the wall and casually ate it in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Mr Datuna called the act his own piece of performance art, and no charges were brought against him.
Mr Sun compared conceptual art like Comedian to non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralised blockchain technology.
"Most of its objects and ideas exist as (intellectual property) and on the internet, as opposed to something physical," he said.
Two men dressed as auction house staff stood in front of a featureless wall with the yellow banana offering the only splash of colour.
The artwork owner is given a certificate of authenticity that the work was created by Mr Cattelan as well as instructions about how to replace the fruit when it goes bad.
Justin Sun said the artwork may well benefit from the same kind of speculative craze usually associated with crypto.
"I think (the price) probably is going to go up even more in the future, just like Bitcoin," he said.
Justin Sun invests in Donald Trump-backed crypto firm
Justin Sun this week also became an advisor to World Liberty Financial, a crypto initiative backed by US president-elect Donald Trump, following a $30 million investment.
He earlier wrote on X that he was "excited to help make crypto great again in the US" with Mr Trump's leadership.
On Friday, he denied that the investment — which made him the largest investor in the project — was an attempt to influence Mr Trump or American politics.
"We are apolitical," he said.
"Me (serving) as advisor also contribute a lot of value … I can be a great bridge for traditional financial and the (decentralised finance) industry."
The 34-year-old crypto businessman was last year charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud and securities law violation in relation to his crypto project Tron.
He has rejected the allegations and the case is ongoing.
AFP/ABC
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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