500-Won Banana Worth 8.6 Billion Won... 'Art World's Bad Boy' Maurizio Cattelan [News Figures]

The artwork 'Comedian,' which features a banana taped to a wall with duct tape, was sold at auction for approximately 8.6 billion KRW (6.2 million USD). The initial estimated price was around 1.3 to 2.1 billion KRW, but it was sold for a price six times higher. 'Comedian' is a work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Cattelan unveiled 'Comedian' at the 2019 Miami Art Fair. The piece criticizes the absurdity of contemporary art, where the artist's fame often dictates the artwork's value more than its artistic merit. At the time, the work sold for over 100 million KRW (120,000 USD), causing a stir in the global art world. The piece received both criticism and praise.

Known as the 'bad boy of the art world,' Cattelan grew up with a truck driver father and a cleaning lady mother. Due to his difficult family circumstances, he worked part-time jobs from a young age. The work titled 'Charlie Doesn't Surf' reflects his childhood. It depicts a student sitting at a desk studying. Upon closer inspection, the student's hands are stuck to pencils on the desk. It is said to express the hardships Cattelan endured.

Cattelan is not formally trained in art. He reportedly visited an art museum for the first time at age 28. In the 1980s, he worked in furniture design but wanted to become an artist, so he began studying art on his own. One of his works, a doll poking its head through the floor, represents Cattelan's entry into the art world despite lacking formal education.

Cattelan continued to produce bold and provocative works. Through free-spirited and unconventional pieces, he satirizes modern society. His main themes include cynical humor about the widespread absurdities in politics, religion, history, and culture. One famous sculpture depicts Pope John Paul II crushed by a meteorite. The life-sized sculpture shows the pope struck by a meteorite, helplessly clutching a cross as he falls. This piece was withdrawn from exhibition immediately after religious groups protested.

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Cattelan has occasionally confessed in interviews that he suffers from an 'impostor complex.' He lives with the anxiety of being expelled from the art world at any moment. Cattelan retired after a retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2011 but returned in 2016. His comeback work was 'American.' The 'American' is a toilet made of 18K gold, installed in the actual Guggenheim Museum restroom. It was made publicly accessible for anyone to use privately, turning a luxurious object into something for the general public. Some interpret this as a scene that awakens the 'American Dream,' where opportunities are available to all. The gold alone was worth over 4 billion KRW at the time. The artwork's value was estimated at around 7 billion KRW.