Welcome to "...Is that Art? Friday" first post!
This week, following the art review published about the materiality and Ephemeral Art, I decided that a great subject to talk about would be a joint between one of the most controversial art forms of all time and the most-talked artwork of 2019: Dadaism and "Comedian" by Maurizio Cattelan. Most famously known as the "Banana taped to a wall" piece. If you do not know what I am talking about, well let introduce you to this humorous conceptual art.
This performative art piece (if I may call it that), was displayed at Art Basel in Miami Beach a place for all lunatic millionaires that believe that they are art specialists. Art fairs are not the place to go to appreciate art, I've got to say that. Art fairs are more like an open investment space. A go-to space for people that have more money than they need, to invest in artworks in which they believe will be worth more money in the future. It is tricky because if you spend money in the right artwork, as the "Comedian", you will get more money than you invested initially. And the reason for that is because the artwork became a phenomenon, the art piece of the year. Here we are in a position to say that art became this kind of gambling game. Art market does not define the intrinsic value of a particular artwork, but it does determine its value economically and historically. In this particular case, $150,000.
Back to the artwork in question: the value that "Comedian" was sold for, worked a bit like self-marketing: the amount that it was sold initially became part of the conceptual artwork. The question is: did the artist expect all this fuss around his duck-taped banana? I believe, yes. If you do quick research around the Italian artist, you will see that his practice is very well-known for the controversial ready-mades and his dark humour realistic sculptures. Cattelan enjoys being a controversial artist and to be honest, that gives lots of money these days. The question here is, why is this art?
"Comedian" is Ephemeral Art in a sense, so what was sold was the certificate of the artwork, not the actual banana, as a lot of people think. I believe, "Comedian" is really about all the excitement that such a pop culture item brings in. Maurizio Cattelan planned all the Instagram selfies and the queues to see the artwork. More than a banana taped to a wall, this was a performative piece in which we are all part of. Even this forum post is a part of that performative artwork. And whoever owns the certificate is holding all this capital, and probably, the first-ever ongoing public-controlled performance. The more we talk about it, the more alive the artwork is, the more value it will have in the future.
Majority of the public when sees this kind of artwork tend to say "oh I could do that", right? Sure, we all can do that. We all are perfectly skilled to tape a banana to a wall. Everyone could do that, but why did no one do it before? What makes this artwork an artwork? Why did this become such a controverse and trendy artwork? What makes a simple banana such a popular item? What is Maurizio Cattelan doing to be such a successful artist nowadays? Can you relate to his practice? What do you need to do to achieve his acclaimed status? You may propose other relevant questions to this conversation too.
Let me know what you think 🤔
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This may be interesting to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8sB25IL4o
More info: https://news.artnet.com/market/maurizio-cattelan-banana-art-basel-miami-beach-1722516
Very nice article. As an art work, I believe it broaches many perplexing subjects about art. For example, as you mentioned, the pricing, marketing and auction systems of modern art: whom does it serve? Is art worth the price it's sold for per se, or because someone else needs it to cost as much? Also, very interesting is the method of replacing the banana, as stated in the certificate. Does that mean that the original banana or the exact method that it was placed holds no special significance? So, other than the idea and the initiative, the artist offered nothing more? And of course, this is another example of how social media and art are intertwining over time, using or affecting each other in new ways.