Contemporary Art(?) — Part 1
December 2019, Art Basel’s Biennial Fair, the world probably met the most expensive banana in the history of all humanity. It would leave any farmer with a smile as wide as an emoji’s, but this feat was not achieved by a farmer or some fruit shop. In fact, the responsible for this is the talented (believe it or not, it may not seem like it, but he is truly talented (no irony here)) italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
Maurizio named this work Comedian, a piece that was bought for $120,000 by Sara Aldeman. Actually, it was a collection of three nearly identical works, and all three together were sold for almost $500,000. The work comes with clear instructions on how to maintain it, such as replacing the banana every 7 to 10 days, and even includes a Certificate of Authenticity.
If what we’ve considered so far would already be absurd to many, you might be surprised to know that in the final moments of the exhibition, another artist, David Datuna, decided to eat the banana while claiming to be performing an artistic act titled Hungry Artist.
Can this story get any more bizarre or strange (feel free to give it an adjective you think fits better)? It can. Because it turned into a court case. Another artist, Joe Morford, claimed that Maurizio “stole” his idea, which he had already executed about 20 years ago, titled Banana & Orange, consisting of a banana and an orange glued to the wall with silver duct tape. However, things didn’t go well for Morford despite showing evidence of being the first to execute the idea, but unsuccessfully proving that Maurizio had stolen his idea.
Can it get any more bizarre? In April 2023, the piece located in the Leeum Art Museum was eaten by a student, Noh Hyun-soo, who then glued the peel back to the wall. When asked why he ate the artwork, he said he hadn’t had breakfast that morning and was hungry.
Perhaps the question you might be asking is: “What is this?”
This incident has raised and still raises questions like the one above and the following question: “What is art?” This is a question as old as art itself, but with the advent of Contemporary Art, it has been raised massively once again, and this time with a “different” tone and by people outside the “art world” (I must confess, with good reason), leading many to think that the problem lies in the lack of creativity of the artists, money laundering, and other reasons.
Reflecting on what Contemporary Art is will help us understand the whole phenomenon, or at least the most scandalous aspects, related to art in our day.
Note: This article has no intention of defending accusations that certain artists or styles of art have faced, much less accusing or deprecating any artist or style. It is simply a reflection or observation of how art has “evolved” and reached what we see making headlines today on social media and in the news.
