Maurizio Cattelan

And the scene was so ridiculous. Everyone's cell phones went up. It was like whoosh, this vertical whoosh of, I mean, cynical art dealers, folks who've been buying and selling art for decades. None of them could resist the urge to snap a little picture of that thing on the turntable.

Oh, dude, you know I was already Instagram-living it. I mean, I was theirs, yeah.

Oh, dude, you know I was already Instagram-living it. I mean, I was theirs, yeah.

Oh, dude, you know I was already Instagram-living it. I mean, I was theirs, yeah.

Yeah, I finally got my moment with the Dane banana. I mean, of course, I had it with like 600 or 700 people in this auction room.

Yeah, I finally got my moment with the Dane banana. I mean, of course, I had it with like 600 or 700 people in this auction room.

Yeah, I finally got my moment with the Dane banana. I mean, of course, I had it with like 600 or 700 people in this auction room.

$5,100,000.

$5,100,000.

$5,100,000.

So the winner of the banana is this young guy in his early 30s named Justin Sun. And he is the co-founder of a cryptocurrency platform called Tron. And he is a very colorful character who sort of came into the art world back in the beginning days of the NFT boom. You know, back when people were... You know, JPEGs were selling for $70 million. You remember that, right? During the pandemic.

So the winner of the banana is this young guy in his early 30s named Justin Sun. And he is the co-founder of a cryptocurrency platform called Tron. And he is a very colorful character who sort of came into the art world back in the beginning days of the NFT boom. You know, back when people were... You know, JPEGs were selling for $70 million. You remember that, right? During the pandemic.

So the winner of the banana is this young guy in his early 30s named Justin Sun. And he is the co-founder of a cryptocurrency platform called Tron. And he is a very colorful character who sort of came into the art world back in the beginning days of the NFT boom. You know, back when people were... You know, JPEGs were selling for $70 million. You remember that, right? During the pandemic.

So a lot of these guys sort of came into this world of collecting back then. And they sort of stuck around.

So a lot of these guys sort of came into this world of collecting back then. And they sort of stuck around.

So a lot of these guys sort of came into this world of collecting back then. And they sort of stuck around.

Same thing. Yep. That clicked for him in big ways. And he found that very profound that this artwork actually operated just like things on the blockchain do. And for him, that bridge, right, was so enticing. He just felt like he had to own it.

Same thing. Yep. That clicked for him in big ways. And he found that very profound that this artwork actually operated just like things on the blockchain do. And for him, that bridge, right, was so enticing. He just felt like he had to own it.

Same thing. Yep. That clicked for him in big ways. And he found that very profound that this artwork actually operated just like things on the blockchain do. And for him, that bridge, right, was so enticing. He just felt like he had to own it.

So it says, one, that it's not dead and that markets are always going to fluctuate and they're probably object-driven as much as they are driven by, you know, these macroeconomic factors. But I think it definitely made this really fun. And for the auction houses, that's really important because they're meant to be this playground for the world's wealthy, right?