Move Over, Banana: The Return of the Spectacle Auction

When America first appeared at the Guggenheim, visitors queued for the rare pleasure of relieving themselves inside an artwork until one of its twins was stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019.

Now the surviving edition returns to Sotheby’s New York, where it could set a new record for Cattelan. Part Duchamp, part Trumpian parable, it’s a gilded wink at a world obsessed with status and consumption.

A life-sized bronze rhinoceros that opens into a writing desk, bar and cabinet? François-Xavier Lalanne’s Grand Rhinocrétaire II is as surreal as it is functional, a fantasy object transformed into a millionaire’s toy.

It fetched $19.4 million in October 2023 at Christies Paris demonstrating that design and whimsy can command the same reverence as fine art.

Few moments in auction history match the shock that rippled through Sotheby’s London in 2018, when the gavel fell on Banksy’s Girl with Balloon for £1 million and the frame began to whirr.

In seconds, the artwork self-shredded, half emerging in ribbons. The stunt, later titled Love is in the Bin, went viral worldwide. Three years later, the partially destroyed work sold again for a jaw-dropping £18.6 million, more than 20 times the original price.

It was part prank, part performance, and entirely Banksy: a reminder that the art world’s greatest moments are often the least predictable.

In October 2020 “Stan,” a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, sold for $31.8 million, setting a record for any fossil ever auctioned. The buyer? The new Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum.

The sale blurred boundaries between art, science, and drama. Stan is regarded as one of the finest T. rex specimens in existence. It comprises 199 bones - about 70% of a complete skeleton which have been subjected to a battery of tests and investigations. Damage to the skeleton suggests the dinosaur was involved in a number of battles during its life. Was it natural history or a masterpiece of nature’s own design? Either way, the price put dinosaurs firmly in the blue-chip bracket.

In Febuary 2021, digital artist Beeple made history when his NFT artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” sold at Christie’s for $69,346,250.

The collage compiles 5,000 daily digital images Beeple created over thirteen years, capturing evolving themes of technology, politics, and internet culture. Its landmark sale propelled NFTs into the mainstream art market, shocking traditional collectors and energising crypto-native buyers.