I have been waiting for this moment for 5 years. I was dying of anticipation. The morning of Tuesday, November 29th, 2024, at 9 a.m., my journey as an artist was about to come full circle. I ran, fuelled by a blend of excitement and irony.
Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan is on tour. 9 days - 9 cities, stretching across continents. I know what you're thinking: it's bullshit. And you're right. The artist doesn't pretend that it's anything else. And that's precisely why it's brilliant.
It is bullshit that he put a banana on a wall, called it art and people accepted it.
It is bullshit that the first edition sold for $120,000 in 2019.
It is bullshit that an auction house organised this tour.
It is bullshit that another edition might fetch over $1.5 million in New York at an auction.
It is bullshit that it even comes in editions.
Yet, what better critique exists of the art world's follies than a banana on a wall? Compared to Benedikte Bjerre's The birds, which I reviewed recently, Comedian is an unparalleled satire—a masterpiece in its simplicity. The questions it evokes are endless:
How do they select a banana destined to become a million-dollar art piece?
Who decides on the banana?
Is it always the same one?
How do they keep it fresh? Does it mould or dry out?
Is it consumed, and if so, how much is this poop worth?
Who gets to eat it?
Why this banana is better than any other banana?
Why do people want to waste time thinking about this work?
Why would someone buy it?
Why isn't it the same as if you tape it to the wall? Or is it?
Does context change everything? Why?
Yet, the highlight of my visit was receiving a free t-shirt from Sotheby's for being among the first 50 people who visited that show. Naturally, I've already ordered a special case for it—one day I might buy a one-bedroom flat for that T-shirt. Given how much houses in London cost now, this might be my only option.
I thought about it for a long time, and if I had the opportunity to buy this work of art, I wouldn't pay more than £1000 for this banana. That's how much it's worth to me.
At the start of this post, I wrote that my journey as an artist came full circle–during my BA, I created a piece that was a commentary on Cattelan's work, inviting people to eat the bananas I displayed. Was it art? Was it better or worse than Cattelan's? It was chaotic, but it taught me one thing: tape needs constant replacing. So, if nothing else, we can be sure that at least the tape on Comedian isn't reused.
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