At least this is an entertaining form of money laundering.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:34 PM on November 21 [7 favorites]

Of course it would have to be a crypto guy. This is a conceptual installation comprised entirely of replaceable materials and the gallery context. It's not possibly to "buy" or "own" it in the usual sense. In eating the banana he's not eating the piece any more than anyone else eating a banana is.
posted by jy4m at 12:39 PM on November 21 [4 favorites]

So, the Banana of Theseus? Or perhaps more contextually appropriate, My Grandfather's Conceptual Banana?

Fake money being used to purchase pretend art? Sounds like the circle of life to me.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:47 PM on November 21 [4 favorites]

Puts me in mind of the Stone Soup Theory of Billionaires from the other day. The actual banana is just the stones in the pot, and the art is seeing what you can get other people to throw in. This guy is adding to the story 1) this is worth six million bucks, and 2) I shall devour it. Objectively speaking, that is hilarious and a wonderful contribution to the soup.

Ideally the recipient of the $6m will also do something hilarious with the money, like track down the person who harvested that particular banana and give it all to them. Probably that's not possible, but surely they can throw something into the pot.
posted by echo target at 12:49 PM on November 21 [5 favorites]

Talk about conspicuous consumption.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 12:58 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

...he's not eating the piece any more than anyone else eating a banana is.

And I am become Hunger, destroyer of Art: Nomnomnom.
posted by Western Infidels at 1:07 PM on November 21 [3 favorites]

He doesn't get the banana or the tape from the exhibit (although they're replaced regularly). What he actually gets is a fresh 35c banana, a roll of duct tape and some instructions. It's essentially an edible NFT. Oh, and there are three of them for sale.
posted by pipeski at 1:10 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

This is not really out of line in the art world. Jonathan Borofsky‘s “Running People at 2,616,216” is never directly exhibited. It’s an image in a transparency, and a curator uses an overhead projector to project the image on a desired wall and paint a copy for viewing. It may appear very different depending on the wall(s) chosen, the angle projected, etc. I’m not sure that’s super-different from a banana that becomes art when it’s stuck to a wall in a gallery….
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:12 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

At least this is an entertaining form of money laundering.

Grift Inception
posted by EvaDestruction at 1:18 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

Given that it's Justin Sun, there's a non-0 chance that the reported price is wildly inflated via something like wash trading.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:27 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

Grifters all the way down.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 1:28 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

If I were inclined to be generous, I'd call this the new Object To Be Destroyed/Indestructible Object (which has been destroyed and remade many times). But I just don't like to be generous to crypto guys.
posted by queensissy at 1:45 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

You know, we wouldn't have to have tedious discussions about "is this really art?" if we all just agreed to not talk about it as art. Some cryptoscammer buying it is sort of brill though.
posted by Nelson at 2:03 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by procrastination at 2:04 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

The cryptoscamming aspect of this is maybe beside the point, and the artist and auction house are just as bad as the buyer, in some ways. As with the media outlet reporting on this and not bothering to ask anyone involved how many people could be fed with the $6.2M of real money. Another in a long line of arguments for open financial records and global taxation.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 2:15 PM on November 21 [3 favorites]

This is definitely art.
posted by betaray at 2:36 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

OK, so after the banana is consumed (and the associated biological processes), suppose we were to place bets on how much the excrement that resulted might go for at auction. Would that be some kind of trading in derivatives?
posted by nickmark at 2:40 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

It's essentially an edible NFT.

I went to an art gallery many years ago and noticed there were not one, but two separate works that were white canvases. I wondered what curatorial value each different one brought to the table. Perhaps the first white canvas said one thing, and the inclusion of a second white canvas work said another thing.

Which is why I'm soon unveiling my new work for the world: an entirely different banana taped to the wall with an entirely different piece of duct tape.
posted by LSK at 2:51 PM on November 21

I despise bananas. There is no food I hate more, not even close. Been that way my whole life. I made myself eat half a banana, a few years ago. It still haunts me.

I think the most fulfilling artistic culmination of this whole living art experience would be to pay me $6M to eat the banana.
posted by gurple at 3:23 PM on November 21

I guess we finally have an answer to Lucille Bluth’s question.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:25 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

You're laughing now, but I'm making waves in the street art world with my massive pieces painted with an empty spray paint can
posted by phooky at 3:54 PM on November 21

Woah woah woahhwohhh! You take this home, throw it in a bullet with some frozen mango and blueberries, baby you got a smoothie going.
posted by neonamber at 4:34 PM on November 21

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