An art installation of a banana duct taped to a wall that was previously hailed as a ‘defiant work of pure genius’ has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $6.2 million.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ piece was snatched up by Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who outbid six other offers on Wednesday.

‘After over 6 minutes of heated bidding, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s and Chairman of Sotheby’s China, Jen Hua, placed the winning bid for ‘Comedian’ on behalf of, Chinese collector and founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, Sotheby’s announced on X.

Sun, who has an estimated net worth of $1.43 billion, said on X that ‘in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture’.

The Chinese businessman amassed significant wealth from his crypto ventures, and served as Permanent Representative of Grenada to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2021 to 2023.

‘This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history. I am honored to be the proud owner of the banana and look forward to it sparking further inspiration and impact for art enthusiasts around the world’, he added.

The installation drew record crowds at its initial unveiling back in 2019, but the bizarre piece caused such controversy and upheaval among crowds that it had to be removed from the premises before the end of the exhibition.

But this time around, the piece has come with a a surprising catch as the buyer has not purchased the original famous banana, but merely the instructions on how to replace the fruit when it rots.

This would not be the first time the banana would be eaten, however, after a hungry South Korean student last year ate the fruit while it was on display at Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art, claiming he had not eaten breakfast.

The student, Noh Huyn-soo, boldly taped the peel to the wall after eating the banana. Local media reported that a new banana was placed in the empty spot.

According to the museum, the banana was replaced every two to three days anyway.

Stunned onlookers shouted ‘excuse me’ at Mr Noh during the recording, but he appeared to ignore the shouts and continued eating the banana.

He briefly posed with the skin taped to the wall before leaving the room.

Speaking later to local media about the incident, Mr Noh said the video was an act of ‘rebellion’ against Mr. Catellan’s own ‘rebellious’ artwork.

When told about the incident, Mr Cattelan,a sculptor and performance artist based in New York responded, ‘No problem at all’.

Performance artist David Datuna was the first to pull the banana from the wall in 2019, after the artwork had just been sold for $120,000 (£91,000) at Art Basel in Miami.

The banana had been replaced at the time and no action was taken.

Datuna told The Guardian at the time that although he considered Cattalan to be ‘a genius’, he took issue with the huge amount of money made from a banana that cost 20 cents.

‘I have travelled in 67 countries around the world in the last three years, and I see how people live,’ Datuna said. ‘Millions are dying without food. Then he puts three bananas on the wall for half a million dollars?’

Prior to its auctioning in New York, the piece has been on a world tour through major cities including London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles over the last month.