The Comedian- Why and How?

These past couple of weeks I’ve had a lot of conversations about Maurizio Cattelan’s “The Comedian” since it sold at auction for over 6 mill.

I found myself defending the artwork, but not the price.

Let’s go into why “the banana”, as most people who don’t know about art call it, is such a great work.

Maurizio Cattelan, “The Comedian”, 2019.

First off, it’s supposed to be funny. It’s in the title. That I know for sure. Conceptually, it's a commentary on Miami; this is based on my deep feeling, not based on any written statement from Cattelan.

The work was created in 2019 for Miami’s annual Art Basel in December. Maurizio, being a smart, witful and observant human, saw how Miami is a city dressed in a sexualized rich and tasteful veil, with a cheap but costly lifestyle. The banana adhered to a wall with duct tape is the perfect metaphor to sum up vice city.

Now, I do not believe he knew what he did in terms of how the public would respond. This is not the first artwork he created, but none gained as much attention as the banana. It’s simply the public’s fault for falling for it, and that’s why it’s great. We did it to ourselves. It’s not much different than Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”. In fact, this work would not have existed without Marchel Duchamp’s urinal.

It flipped people on their heads. Gallerists, artists, tourists, crypto bros, influencers, art historians, and auction houses all were focusing on the banana. In a convention center filled with art, this was the most famous, most sought after. Everyone had an opinion and wanted to have an opinion on it.

Marcel Duchamp, “Fountain”, 1917. 

It’s mostly the auction houses fault for the pricing, but if some rich person wants to spend 6 million on a banana, why should we care? If anything we’re slightly jealous, or maybe we’re right.  Auction houses have gone too far.  

Happy Basel, everyone.

V.N