Jessy, Jinse Finance
On November 20 local time, TRON founder Justin Sun acquired the iconic artwork "Comedian" by artist Maurizio Cattelan for $620,000.
The artwork is indeed just a real banana, and many may not understand why Justin Sun spent a fortune to buy a banana.
According to Justin Sun's own explanation, "This is not only a work of art, but also a cultural phenomenon that connects art, meme culture, and the crypto community."
"Comedian" has indeed become a part of crypto culture, and in the crypto world, a MEME token called $Ban (Comedian) has been created based on the "Comedian" artwork.
After the news of Justin Sun's purchase of "Comedian" was released, $Ban surged about 20% in 5 minutes, with its market value briefly exceeding $230 million. However, as of the time of writing, the token price has fallen 30% from the previous day.
A $6.2 million marketing stunt
"Comedian" is a work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, consisting of a fresh banana attached to the wall with duct tape. Maurizio Cattelan originally created it for an art fair in 2019, when he bought the bananas for about 30 cents each from a grocery store in Miami. The work comes with a certificate of authenticity and detailed instructions on how to properly display the work, and the banana and tape can be replaced as needed.
The gallery owner who exhibited the work once commented, "It's a symbol of global trade, a pun, and also a classic humorous device."
Maurizio Cattelan's artworks are mainly characterized by humor. Some of his previous representative works include the fully functional golden toilet "America" created in 2016.
"Comedian" has also sparked controversy, with The Guardian calling it "a preposterous masterpiece...it evokes the old Lucille Ball joke about the rich not knowing the price of a banana." Artnet wrote that this work was one of the worst of the week, and that Cattelan "somehow tricked a group of collectors into buying a banana taped to the wall for $120,000." Today's USA Today sarcastically commented, "The art is the banana - literally."
There are also many voices of praise, with Noah Charney stating in his 2021 book "The Devil in the Gallery" that "Comedian is neither beautiful nor displays skill, and thus represents the Duchampian line." Author Brian C. Nissen in his work "Beauty (and the Banana)" states, "At the very least, Comedian is a commentary on the wild world of contemporary art, conveying how culture understands, interprets, and interacts with art."
Art is difficult to understand, but in the public domain, everyone has started to use this banana as a meme, and even Musk played with the work a few years ago on X.
After the birth of "Comedian", there was no shortage of buyers interested in it. A total of three editions of the work were issued, two of which were sold at the Basel Art Fair for $120,000 each.
This time, Sotheby's auctioned off the remaining one of "Comedian", with an expected selling price of $1 million to $1.5 million. But the final price reached a staggering $6.2 million.
Justin Sun is not short of money, and according to the New York Times, he beat out six other competitors to win the bid for the work. In an interview with the New York Times, he stated that "in the coming days, I will personally eat this banana as part of this unique art experience, to commemorate its place in art history and pop culture."
What Justin Sun saw was not the investment value of this banana, but the $6.2 million he spent on a marketing stunt. His goal has been achieved, with well-known media at home and abroad reporting on this purchase.
"Comedian" has become part of the crypto culture, but $Ban is not worth buying
"Comedian" has become a part of the MEME coin culture in the crypto world, and Justin Sun's lavish purchase of the banana is also a promotion for crypto culture.
MEME coin $Ban is created based on this artwork, and it was also deployed on the Solana chain by Sotheby's vice president Michael Bouhanna through pump.fun.
After the news of Justin Sun's purchase of "Comedian" was released, $Ban surged 20% in the short term.
In the current MEME craze, how to choose a profitable MEME is a real test of skill. Ban can be considered an art-based MEME, not a new concept. But its advantage is that it has a well-known person shilling it. The project was first issued by Sotheby's vice president Michael Bouhanna, and according to the early token holder addresses, he holds 3.78% of the tokens.
MEME king Musk has also shilled Ban, retweeting news about $Ban.
This time, Justin Sun has joined in, spending a huge sum to buy "Comedian". However, there is a joke in the market that "whenever Justin Sun enters a sector, it means that sector is about to cool down in the short term." On-chain data shows that Justin Sun has not yet shown any signs of buying $Ban.
Currently, the MEME coin market as a whole is experiencing a certain pullback, and some projects that were hot a week ago, such as PNUT and ACT, are already close to being halved from their highs.
Bitcoin is constantly breaking new highs, Altcoins are lying on the ground motionless, and the once-hot MEME is also cooling down. Excluding stablecoins, Bitcoin's share of the total crypto market capitalization has already reached 70%.
Bitcoin is about to break through $100,000, and a pullback is imminent. At this time, it is not recommended to buy MEME that have already been hyped up.
