HONG KONG: Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun on Friday fulfilled a promise he made after spending $6.2 million on an artwork featuring a banana mounted on the wall – by eating the fruit.
At one of Hong Kong’s most expensive hotels, Sun munched on a banana in front of dozens of journalists and influencers after giving a speech in which he praised the work as “iconic” and compared conceptual art to cryptocurrency.
“It’s much better than other bananas,” Son said after taking his first taste.
“It’s really very good.”
The work, titled “Comedy,” created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York last week, and Sun was among seven bidders.
Son said he felt “stunned” in the first 10 seconds after winning the bid, before realizing “this could become something big.”
In the next ten seconds, he decided he was going to eat the banana.
“Taking it up at a press conference could also become part of the history of the artwork,” he said on Friday.
The edible product’s debut at the 2019 Art Basel fair in Miami Beach sparked controversy and raised questions about whether it should be considered art — Cattelan’s stated goal.
On Friday, Sun compared conceptual art such as “comic” to NFT art and decentralized blockchain technology.
“Most of her things and ideas exist as ‘intellectual property’ and on the Internet, not as a physical object,” he said.