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When I started dating my now husband, the decor in his dorm apartment included a banana that he and his roommates had drunkenly taped to the wall. ...Twelve years later, believe it or not, he still has it in a plastic bag somewhere in our apartment.
So imagine my surprise when I arrived at the VIP preview for Art Basel Miami Beach and discovered that Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan had done exactly the same thing. The most important difference being, of course, that this version—sourced from a local Miami supermarket and on sale from Perrotin, the Parisian gallery with locations in New York and across Asia—cost a cool $120,000.
"We sold it already," announced a triumphant Emmanuel Perrotin as I took a close look at the piece, titled Comedian. The buyer, a French woman, has bought work from the gallery before, but never a work by Cattelan, I was told.
By the time I left the booth, a deal on a second edition of the piece had also been closed, sold to a French man. (Perrotin told him about my husband's banana, to reassure him that the banana would age well, and the collector threatened to buy that one instead.)
[...] After the second sale, Perrotin quickly texted Cattelan, and the two agreed to raise the price to $150,000 for the third edition of the work, which they have decided to sell to a museum—and two institutions have already expressed interest, according to the gallery. (There are also two artists proofs of the work, only one of which is for sale.)
[...] The artist wouldn't speak to the work's meaning, but he was partially inspired by the large number of paintings he's seen at galleries recently. "I'm not in Miami, but I'm sure it's full of paintings as well," said Cattelan. "I thought maybe a banana could be a good contribution!"
https://news.artnet.com/market/maurizio-cattelan-banana-art-basel-miami-beach-1722516
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday December 11 2019, @09:09PM (9 children)
There seems to be something in the human psyche that tends to extremism. Leftists/progs, when they only talk amongst each other, get crazier and crazier, thinking that they can change human nature and make socialism actually work. On the right wing, it's no better: certain subgroups in the US are seriously talking about a hot civil war: again, because they feed off of each other and never allow a reality check to intrude on their fantasy world.
Artists trapped in the art world? They probably actually think that taping a banana to a wall is art. Or putting a dot of paint on a blank canvas. That's only because they are in a world of other nutty artists and art critics, feeding off of each other. And if some art buyer is willing to pay $120k for a snack? Well, I guess that's good, because it at least gets the money circulating again instead of sitting in their trust fund.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that art makes a great hobby - whether it's music, acting, painting, or whatever - but a terrible profession. IMHO the value in art lies more in participation than in gawking at weirdness produced by arrogant nitwits.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @10:11PM (2 children)
Good artists actually have some skills and are humble enough to keep in mind when they are bullshitting rich people, which is its own skill.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 12 2019, @03:40AM (1 child)
Great artists aren't bullshitting their collectors, they truly deeply believe whatever it is they are selling.
In the case of banana and duct tape, I'm pretty sure the product is absurd whimsy - isn't this fun? Remember when we all doubled our money in three years because the US elected an insane child who let the markets run wild?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @01:49PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday December 11 2019, @10:15PM (1 child)
How much is it worth, if you eat the banana, but leave the peel?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 12 2019, @03:37AM
The value is in the certificate of authenticity, which I believe comes with instructions on how to replace the banana and tape when necessary.
If you think about the cost to restore the great Masters' oils on canvas, and you compare that to $0.19 a week to replace the banana (roughly $500 per century), the banana is probably cheaper to maintain in the long run.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 12 2019, @12:41AM (1 child)
I agree and adding my observations.
Art is a state of mind, the desire of producing something other than the functional basics for the sake of appreciating it or the joy of making it. Functional BASICS, because pure functional research, e.g. in coding the most elegant implementation, when extra and not really needed, represents art nonetheless. Miura, Countach, F40, Dallara stradale and koenigseggs and paganis are art, even the cybertruck is art because it took effort to not refine a POS like that. Obviously Musk saw the Asfane diecidieci and thought Jeez, guys got world famous by making a completely troll supercar and I have that truck to design...
Artwork is sometimes art, and is subdivided in reproducible and limited. Mp3 is reproducible, handmade or industrial in limited edition is limited.
The successful limited art artist is good in making rich guys get his stuff. For this is helpful to employ a consistent style. The rest is connections and lottery.
The successful reproducible art artist is instead a decoy, reproducible art makes the middleman rich out of a multitude of creators who work for peanuts or less. So it's good to keep the 20 VIP artists and shower them with money so lil guy dabbling in the arts wants to be a pro and starts creating.
Finally, ars est propaganda (for both the possible translations hehe), especially now that paying public is out of style and support by political entities is rising.
Of course, many artists know that but enjoy creation so much that they persist.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 12 2019, @03:31AM
I see a strong parallel between the Cybertruck and the VW Thing: simple flat metal panels. I also see a strong devil may care how much it weighs aesthetic playing through even the body panels - the thing is going to be extremely heavy already due to the battery packs, but it's big enough that it can carry them (and should have a pretty smooth ride as a result, too.) So, as long as you're making a heavy vehicle, why not use flat body panels and thicken them up until they are strong enough, instead of forming thinner panels into complex curving surfaces for rigidity? I worry about the tires - they're probably going to be a problem point in the design, both keeping the rolling resistance down and the longevity and traction up while carrying so much weight. Still, definitely a statement, my $100 deposit went in on opening day.
As for marketing my own art... I've always had a day job, which makes it really hard to compete with the "full time living the lifestyle" artists when it comes to getting buyers to open their wallets.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 12 2019, @03:21AM
There are all kinds of art. Art Basel Miami is, foremost, about art that sells for money - lots of money. As such, the banana is a successful commercial artwork. Further, it has gotten all this free press: worth far more than its selling price.
To sell art, you have to appeal to the buyer. To sell (simple to make) art in the $120K-150K price range, you have to appeal to that crowd of maybe 1000 people in the entire world who both have the money and also have the desire to "make a statement" with the art they purchase - whether for themselves or for a museum. Again, Basel Miami is an event where this kind of thing can happen - once in a while.
This kind of simple to make art (I'm reminded of the knot paintings [icaboston.org] I saw in the Hirshhorn in 1988), has to strike the fancy of the buyer - which is a complex combination of the artist's projection of themselves, the mindset and mood of the buyer(s), and a whole lot of dumb luck. It has absolutely nothing to do with the cost, time, or effort involved in making the piece, and certainly nothing to do with any intrinsic value.
I don't play anywhere near this level, but as a buyer I bought a Diamond Rio [wikipedia.org] back in 1999 - not because it was a great device: clearly much better ones were coming, but as a statement of support for the fledgling industry. As a seller, when I showed my limited edition prints arrayed all sincerely on the wall of a local restaurant for $200 a piece for their weekly show, a customer stepped up and bought one - not because $200 was any kind of bargain, but because he knew I was a local artist and probably felt good about supporting the scene, and whenever he looks at that piece on the wall he will be reminded of that...
As for the French millionaires who get off on duct-taped bananas, I'm sure it will be the source of cocktail party amusement for years to come, something they may be lacking? If this has any close connections to money laundering, then it has been an epic fail - money launderers abhor attention.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday December 12 2019, @02:08PM
There's a lot to what you're saying. Often the artists and works that are supposed to impress you, don't, and you become cynical about the whole thing.
Then you see art that stops you in your tracks. That's magical. We saw an El Anatsui [wordpress.com] exhibit a few years ago that used bottle caps and bits of trash to create sculptural tapestries, and it blew me away in a way that Monet never did.
Washington DC delenda est.