VOA · Arts & Culture
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed5:082024-11-21public domain
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01A much-publicized art piece made up of a single banana taped to a wall has sold for $6.2 million.
02The sale happened Wednesday night during an auction in New York City at famous art seller Sotheby's.
03The work, called Comedian, was sold to cryptocurrency businessman Justin Sun.
04He is a Chinese collector and founder of the cryptocurrency company Tron.
05Sun placed the winning bid over the phone and the sale was completed in cryptocurrency.
06Before the auction, Sotheby's said the unusual art piece was expected to bring in at least $1.5 million.
07But the price quickly started rising after the auction began, with people bidding inside the auction room as well as on the phone and online.
08The art piece had already sold three times for prices between $120,000 and $150,000, the Associated Press reported.
09Sun said in a statement after the auction that Comedian is not just an artwork.
10He added that the piece bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.
11Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as at least two onlookers did when the artwork was presented at places around the world.
12Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the other.
13Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the other.
14Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the other.
15Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the other.
16Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the other.
17Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
18Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
19Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
20The banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
21Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
22Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
23Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
24Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
25Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
26Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
27Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana, as well as the banana.
28Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
29Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
30Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
31Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
32Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
33Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
34Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
35Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
36Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
37Sun said he planned to eat the banana, as well as the banana.
38Sun said he added that he thinks comedian can cause people to question what values should be attached to artworks, and what can be defined as artwork.
39What you buy when you buy Catalan's Comedian is not the banana itself, but a certificate of authenticity, Galperin said.
40Sun said he added that document, he added, gives the owner permission to reproduce the banana and duct tape on their own wall as an original artwork by the artist.
41The sale of Comedian came shortly after Sotheby's auctioned off a famed artwork in The Water Lilies series by French painter Claude Monet.
42That piece sold on Monday for $65.5 million.
43When asked to compare Catalan's simple wall art to major works like Monet's, Galperin said that form of art, called Impressionism, was not taken seriously when that movement first began.
44No important, profound, meaningful artwork of the past 100 years or 200 years, or our history for that matter, did not provoke some kind of discomfort when it was first unveiled, Galperin said.
45I'm Brian Lynn.
46I'm Brian Lynn.
47I'm Brian Lynn.
48I'm Brian Lynn.
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