Have people gone mad?

[username358]

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's "Comedian," a conceptual artwork comprising a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape, sold on Wednesday for $6.24 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York.

When a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000 in 2019, social media uproar and an age-old debate about the meaning of art ensued.

But artist Maurizio Cattelan’s viral creation, titled “Comedian,” has proven a sound investment for one collector: One of the artwork’s three “editions” smashed estimates to sell for $6.24 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Wednesday.
https://www.cnn.com/style/duct-taped-banana-maurizio-cattelan-auction-hnk-intl/index.html

AIBU to think the world's gone mad? Someone has paid 6m to keep sticking a banana on a wall with duct tape.

People who buy art like that just want to show off that they have enough money to buy art like that. And if they want to waste their money by showing off, it seems like a fairly harmless way to do so. Less bad than spending it on tourism to space or extreme political donations.

I would make that for a cool £5er if anyone wants

Money laundering?

People like that disgust me. There are children dying right now through the lack of clean water. Showing off how rich you are by buying crap art, ugh.

Further proof that money does not buy taste or class

Maybe those same people are also doing a lot more about children dying than you are?

It’s a status thing I think, being able to buy something so frivolous for such an extraordinary amount of money and feel like you are supporting “art”.

If people want random shite stuck to walls my DD’s bedroom should be worth billions.

Maybe they are, but they can obviously do a lot more but they'd rather buy a banana duct taped to a wall.

Wouldn't the banana be rotting and manky by now?

I'll make something like that and sell it to a rich person if it'll net me £6 million!

I'm up for it! But would you want a slice of the proceeds (or the banana) if it sold for $6.24 million in a few years time...?

This reminds me of when I took my 9 year-old son to the RA Summer Exhibition. There were a number of frames with a black bin bag stretched across them, which had been torn slightly n a number of places.

I am too polite/cowardly to express an opinion audibly, but he saw that the emperor had no clothes on, and kept on loudly rubbishing these works. He had a point!

OK, yes - it's art. But is it good art? Only time will tell, and I'd bet time will give it the thumbs down!!

As long as public money isn't being spent on this kind of thing, let them crack on.

Stupid people with money.

As my late mum used to say..... they've got more money than sense.

I’ve read it has instructions included on how to replace it. The person who has bought it is planning to eat it and apparently it’s already been eaten twice and replaced.
Duct-taped banana artwork sells for $6.2m in NYC www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy87202v43no

Imagine training for years to be an art curator and then being landed with banana-changing duties.

Haha it's like triggers broom all over again if they keep replacing the banana

You should see my 'Grapes of Wrath'.

I first stamp on them and then, using my malfunctioning sellotape dispenser, stick them, in a screwed up bunch, to any to any object that I didn't intend to.

(Photo to follow when I have calmed down a little.)

This is something that fascinates me. Who decides what is 'art' and what isn't?

I know a lot of it is about the 'story' that goes with the work but what if someone produces this sort of thing for their degree and the people marking the work disagree that it's 'art' and gives them a low mark? How do you objectively assess such a piece?

I go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park a lot and some of the exhibits there genuinely are something that anyone could do, for example:

https://ysp.org.uk/art-outdoors/123454321

Is that the work of a talented artist or a couple of competent bricklayers?

I'm minded to get DP, who can drive telehandlers etc, to drive in a stack of tractor tyres under cover of darkness to display somewhere in the park with a story about how they're a representation of the problems of waste management and also a nod to historical thefts of their sculptures.

Is it art or is it fly tipping? It could be an entry for the Turner Prize.

just going to say this, people have no idea about what people give to charity. These countries also have governments. I assume that op gives every spare penny to charity.

I honestly think - don't waste your time and energy trying to define what art is. Art is whatever an artist (that's anyone who considers themselves and artist) deliberately makes. It's the quality of the art which is worth debating, and whatever anyone thinks - only time will really sort the gold from the dross.

I agree with you about most stuff that's produced today. I just don't think it's worth getting into an argument about whether it's art or not. It will be forgotten or in a skip before very long!

If its stuck to the wall.......does he get the wall too?

Is he to eat the banana or watch it go off like mine in the fruit bowl

Will he get free fruit flies with this?

Will it attract monkeys and other marsupials?

Yes......the world has gone mad

An interesting question OP. Because who decides where the boundary between spending ones excess wealth on what one chooses and madness/disgusting waste/immorality while others go without lies? And who decides what art has merit and what doesnt on what criteria? I mean, I personally think its disgusting that people can pay £5000 for a handbag while others can't have the heating on. I also think that Bridget Riley must have seen them coming. Many would disagree on both counts. So I guess its two bigger questions. Is it disgusting to have loads of surplus wealth? And should there be set criteria for assessing the merit of art?

I think this is taking it a step further than “rubbish art”. This man has paid millions for a random banana and some duct tape. He has to “assemble” the art himself on his own wall. The artist hasn’t made this art. It’s not the same banana and tape that was originally displayed. It’s interesting but I just can’t consider it any other than ridiculous.

They'll have to replace the tape at some point too, it'll lose it's adhesiveness if they keep peeling it back to replace the banana.