The conceptual art phenomenon of a banana taped to a wall has gone viral once again thanks to the Super Bowl.
A Ray-Ban Meta Glasses commercial that premiered during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9 poked fun at the absurd item, which was purchased at an auction for $6.2 million by San Francisco cryptocurrency mogul Justin Sun in November.
The 31 second-long advertisement follows Marvel Cinematic Universe actors Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt who find themselves in the home of reality TV star Kris Jenner, who has a banana taped to her wall.
Pratt uses the glasses, which retail from $299 to $379, to identify that it is a piece of art. Hemsworth, sans smart glasses, starts eating the banana.
“That’s a $6.2 million banana,” Pratt says in shock when he sees Hemsworth snacking on the fruit.
“Are you kidding?” the Australian actor replies before the two start rummaging through the fridge to find a replacement. But they’re quickly caught by Jenner, who asks them, “Who eats art?” before telling Meta to call her lawyer.
In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan debuted the piece, titled “Comedian,” at Art Basel Miami, where it sold for $120,000. But it made major headlines again last year when Sun, founder of the blockchain company Tron and its associated cryptocurrency, bid on it and shared online that he planned to eat the banana.
The piece, however, didn’t come with the banana. Instead, Sun received a certificate of authenticity, a roll of duct tape, a 14-page set of installation instructions and a guarantee that future reproductions will be considered Cattelan pieces. In other words, Sun can tape any banana to a wall and call it the work of Cattelan.
“This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun wrote on X after the purchase.
Three different editions of “Comedian” have been made, one of which was acquired by the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Reach Zara Irshad: zara.irshad@sfchronicle.com
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
