In November 2019, Perrotin gallery announced that Maurizio Cattelan, the art world’s reigning prankster-provocateur, had made his first new work for an art fair in 15 years. It was called Comedian.
“Maurizio Cattelan is known for hyperrealistic sculptures that lampoon popular culture and offer a wry commentary on society, power, and authority,” the gallery said in a press release that went largely unnoticed at first. “Comprised of a real banana affixed to the wall with a piece of gray…

