Unless you have not been using any sort of social media this past week, you have probably seen “the banana”. Yes, the banana that was stuck to a wall with grey duct tape, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2019. Yes, the banana that someone purposely payed $120,000 for, instead of recreating it at home with tape and uh, a banana.
After seeing it, you were probably mocking this art piece too, just like everyone else did. And, why not? It is something that even a baby could recreate, and the fact that it was sold for such a high price, makes the whole situation even more ridiculous. However, what the majority of people don’t know is that this was the purpose of the artwork all along.
Maurizio Cattelan is a very famous Italian artist, known for his satirical pieces, such as “America”, a golden toilet that, although it’s made from a precious material, it is reduced to a base where users are invited to pee and poo. As well as “La Nona Ora”, a sculpture of a meteorite hitting Pope John Paul II, a mockery of the Catholic faith when Christ screams "Why have you forsaken me ?”. Even though they are dark and controversial, none of these artworks have received the same amount of attention that “Comedian” has, in the past few days. People queued for hours, just to be able to examine what makes this banana, art? Is it its yellowness? Is it the angle at which the duct tape was placed on the wall? It doesn’t matter, it was still sold for $120,000, even though no one knew the meaning behind it. And that was Cattelan’s mission all along.
Not to make money, but to show how superficial and money-obsessed the art market is nowadays. A world where the concept always has a smaller value than the material. And it makes sense why Cattelan decided to display “Comedian” in the world’s most materialistic art exhibition ever. The only place where people think it is justifiable to spend horrendous amounts of money, on things they don’t even understand. A place where their visitors have more money than sense.
