Two of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in my life came from my brother, who gifted me with these gems: “Never pass up a free meal or a free beer,” and “Always be careful where you stick your finger next.” I have passed those tidbits on myself from time to time, and I’m going to have to add “Never pay any serious attention to modern art” to the list.
Why? At Sotheby’s in New York, the latest iteration of a work of art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall is expected to fetch a million dollars at auction.
Yes, really.
The yellow banana fixed to the white wall with silver duct tape is a work entitled “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It first debuted in 2019 as an edition of three fruits at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, where it became a much-discussed sensation.
Was it a prank? A commentary on the state of the art world? Another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it. A backup banana was brought in. Selfie-seeking crowds became so thick, “Comedian” was withdrawn from view, but three editions of it sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to Perrotin gallery.
Now, the conceptual artwork has an estimated value of between $1 million and $1.5 million at Sotheby’s auction on Nov. 20. Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, David Galperin, calls it profound and provocative.
A banana. Duct-taped to a wall. That’s “art.” “Profound,” he said. “Provocative,” he said. I’d be more inclined to compare it to a level of craziness normally associated with the output of the south end of a northbound bat, but, well, it’s a free country. Also, I’m betting “backup banana” wasn’t on the list of phrases you expected to read today – I know it sure wasn’t on mine.
My colleague Brad Slager, as it happens, has made the “Comedian” a regular feature in his excellent podcast.
See Related: Dipsology: Beyond the Basics – I Don’t Know Much About Art, but I Know What I Drink
Brad writes:
A prime example of this arrived a few years ago, courtesy of my daughter. She did not create this, but was on the frontline of an international story. She was attending Art Basel in Miami, an annual gathering of artists of multiple disciplines. She sent me a text from the event one day to show me one of the installations: A banana was duct taped to a wall. This became one of our touchstone jokes and has been a regular feature on my podcast, The Cocktail Lounge.
This is the way to look at something like this – don’t take it seriously. Humor is, after all, where one finds it. But a million dollars for a banana and some duct tape? An auction, no less, where it might get bid up to even more? What happens when the banana goes bad? A shriveled, blackened banana remnant duct-taped to a wall is going to lose a lot of its appeal, not to mention drawing flies.
I’ll never understand the world of “modern art.”
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I’ve written here many times of my father, who, among his many talents, was a Midwestern artist of some repute from the mid-’60s to the mid-’80s and even had his own place in the Iowa Capitol building where one of his paintings was on public display. His work was, in its prime, stunning, nearly photo-realistic. That’s what I grew up thinking of as art – but then, I also lived in the Denver area for thirty years, and a quick scan around the city parks and buildings in that municipality will quickly bring you to the realization that the city of Denver will award an art contract to any lunatic with astigmatism, a pile of scrap iron and a welder. And then, for an even more egregious example, drive out to the Denver International Airport and witness the horrible blue “Demon Horse” that’s rearing up next to the road; it’s even more horrifying at night when its eyes glow a demonic red. Yes, the city of Denver paid for that, and they paid the artist’s estate because the Demon Horse, also known as “Blucifer,” killed its creator.
WHY
IS
THERE A STATUE
OF
A HORSE NAMED “BLUCIFER”AT THE
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT? pic.twitter.com/Xbwd5dIFog— DR. Kek (@Thekeksociety) December 17, 2023
But honestly, a banana. Duct-taped to a wall. Just when you think things couldn’t get any dumber, Dumber steps up and says “Hold my beer.”
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