Maurizio Cattelan's duct-taped banana artwork Comedian sells for nearly $10 million

A piece of conceptual art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall has sold for $US6.2 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, as festival-goers tried to make out whether the single yellow piece of fruit affixed to a white wall with silver duct tape was a joke or cheeky commentary on questionable standards among art collectors. "He has persistently disrupted the art world's status quo in meaningful, irreverent, and often controversial ways," the auction house said in a description of the artwork. Millions spent on art The sale came a day after a painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte sold for $US121.2 million, a record for the artist, at a separate auction.