Gransnet forums

Chat

Not just any banana!

(16 Posts)
Callistemon Sun 08-Dec-19 22:58:54

Before you chop up a banana for your breakfast think on.

A banana taped to a wall with duct tape at a Miami art gallery was sold for an eyewatering (or should that be mouthwatering) £90,000+

However, a hungry admirer, another artist, ate the banana! He was 'asked to leave' the gallery grin

Was the purchaser gullible or just plain stupid?
The Emperor's New Clothes comes to mind.

M0nica Sun 08-Dec-19 23:07:14

Yes, I read that. It is taking conceptual art, which, despite everything I have read and looked at, strikes me as being a total con, to ridiculous lengths. On the other hand the temptation to make so much easy money from gullible people must be irrestistible.

A fool and their money are soon parted.

Callistemon Sun 08-Dec-19 23:15:07

I do wish I'd thought of it - but the idea is so stupid I'd feel ashamed to label it as art.
The gallery owner obviously took it seriously because she was upset and found another banana to replace it. The duct tape was obviously what cost £90,000! along with the idea, possibly thought up by a four year old.

I'm wondering just how much DGD's pasta collage would be worth?
Or her fallen leaves collage which presents as an autumn wood?

GardenerGran Sun 08-Dec-19 23:21:06

I’ve got a dried up orange hanging around that I used the zest from in some mince pies - I’m going to stick it in our window with some gaffer tape. I’m expecting lots of press coverage tomorrow...

BradfordLass72 Mon 09-Dec-19 03:23:13

I have a letter in my files from Tom Keating, artist and art-faker who so despised this kind of thing that he fooled the arty-farty world for years.
He made magnificent fakes of old masters but cleverly wrote on the back of each one, in ink that showed up in black light, 'This is a fake'. So when he was charged with fraus, he could prove it wasn't.

His letter to me says he once watched a well-heeled couple pay multi-thousands of pounds for "an equisitely framed and mounted piece of soiled toilet paper "

This 'artwork' was signed, 'Willem Krappen.'

Says it all really, doesn't it?

Septimia Mon 09-Dec-19 09:54:21

I once saw, in an art exhibition, a model of a bridge. It was completely made of books. I was about to dismiss it as rubbish when I noticed that the books were all part of a series of text books on how to construct bridges.

I still didn't think it was art - maybe design - but at least it showed there was some thought and wit behind it.

Callistemon Mon 09-Dec-19 09:58:06

I can't find anything witty or meaningful about a banana stuck to a wall with tape!
Apparently whoever bought it has been told that the banana will need replacing from time to time grin

Is it April 1st?

Septimia Mon 09-Dec-19 11:43:55

Ha! Callistemon, very true!

Unless, of course, the decay process is part of the installation....

Urmstongran Mon 09-Dec-19 12:01:58

He was the Italian artist who made the gold loo that was valued at £1million and stolen from Blenheim Palace.

merlotgran Mon 09-Dec-19 12:04:40

Pity they didn't ask Meghan Markle to write a message on it.

That might have bumped the price up a bit......or not!

Callistemon Mon 09-Dec-19 13:02:10

grin

PamelaJ1 Mon 09-Dec-19 13:06:28

Well the banana has been eaten. The artist will replace it.
Presumably when he has got one at the perfect stage of ripeness.

Callistemon Mon 09-Dec-19 13:12:09

I had a little chat with my breakfast banana - told it that it could be worth £90,000+ to a lucky purchaser.
Then I chopped it up and ate it.

WOODMOUSE49 Mon 09-Dec-19 17:08:40

The follow up is even more baffling !

The gallery, after the man ate it, replaced it with another banana and said:

"He did not destroy the art work. The banana is the idea," Lucien Terras, director of museum relations for Galerie Perrotin.

Callistemon Mon 09-Dec-19 17:45:46

More fool whoever bought it!

Some people have more money than sense. Just think how many food bags (with or without bananas) could be bought with that to feed the hungry.

Urmstongran Mon 09-Dec-19 17:46:54

A banana duct-taped to a wall may not be everyone's idea of art, craft or inspiration.

But there is something absurd — and maybe delightfully so — about a banana on a wall, now turning brown, making people stop, stare, smell and wonder about the fragile passage of time.