Blog: Banana Part 1

Have you heard about the banana duct taped to the wall at Art Basel?  Yes, a banana was duct taped to the wall. While at Basel, my daughter and I became one of the many in a crowd of folks who stood in line to have our picture taken with the banana.  Yup, we did. It’s history.  

So, is it art?  What did this banana taped to the wall say about art?  Where is the artist? Not sure if the person who produced this work is an artist?  He calls himself an artist. He also calls himself a comedian.

There was a gallery, an official gallery vetted to show in the official Art Basel arena, that authorized this artwork.  They claim that the work’s certificate of authenticity is what the collectors/buyers of the work purchased. They purchased the work for $120K.  They did not purchase it for its value but for the hype it was causing in the art world. Yup, that is what they said and the gallery sold 3 of these certificates.

How is this banana taped to the wall any different than Christo’s installations of pink around an island or umbrellas on a hillside?

And my wonderful readers, you wonder why I say that the artist’s hand must be in the work and that the work needs to be an original, one of a kind?????

My daughter, who is definitely a millennial, loved it.  I, on the other hand, was saddened for art in our culture as a whole.

To be continued.