A conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian,” is just a fruit-stand banana taped on the wall. But 7 bidders were biting. It went to a crypto entrepreneur.

The Italian artist who created the banana duct-taped to a wall that sold this week for $6.2 million, said in an interview published on Friday that the work was a "provocation" and an invitation to appreciate the true value of art.

This year has seen some of the worst sales in decades for the art market, and the “Comedian” piece is unlikely to move the needle one way or the other.

Beyond the headline-grabbing sales of the fall auction season, the market tries to soar beyond its two-year slump.

Walk into any supermarket and you can generally buy a banana for less than $1. But a banana duct-taped to a wall? That might sell for more than $1 million at an upcoming auction at Sotheby’s in New York.

A piece of conceptual art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall has sold for $US6.2 million ($9.57 million) at an auction in New York.

Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach.

The 'Banana' hanging on the wall (titled 'Comedian') by Maurizio Cattelan was recently sold in New York for over 6 million dollars by Sotheby's, drawing public attention to one of the

The controversial work, which instantly went viral when it debuted at Art Basel in 2019, beat estimates several times over.