a brief history of concept art, the death of the art market, and the Phoenix in the ashes.

In 1917 Marcel Duchamp placed a mens urinal on its side, signed it R.MUTT, and called it art. It was submitted to a group exhibition for the Society of Independent Artists in New York City. The piece was rejected from the show. This seemingly trivial situation became what was deemed in 2004, by a selected group of 500 art professionals as the “most influential art piece of the 20th century”.

Before you crumple up this silly notion, and flush it down the loo, take a minute to think what this simple sculpture stands for. By taking a “Ready Made” object and deeming it “art” it notes that the artist is special, unique, and above all else, right. As though they have a sort of higher connection to secret knowledge that we must accept due to the dedication to their craft, and connection to the aether. To add to this point, Fountain was discarded. it no longer exists. But because of a photo taken by Alfred Stieglitz it was later able to be replicated. 16 times. All sanctioned by Duchamp.

* Now, while we are on the topic of fountain, It should be know that a century later it has come to light that this sculpture, deemed the most important of our times, was not actually created by Duchamp, but rather by a woman, Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven. Also known as the Baroness. It seems quite clear that Elsa sent the piece to Duchamp from Philadelphia for the show with the Male pseudonym R.Mutt as she was well aware of the gender dichotomy of the art world. What impact does such an implication hold? That “the most important piece of our times” was made by a woman not a man? A simple google of “baroness fountain” can give you much more insight on this topic. I will simply note that in a letter found in 1982, dated April 11th 1917 (a few days before the exhibition) Duchamp writes two his sister: “One of my female friends who had adopted the masculine pseudonym Richard Mutt sent in a porcelain urinal as a sculpture“.

Were there other ready made works before fountain? yes. Was this a collectively conscious cognitive evolution taking place in the art world with or without fountain? Likely so. But none the less, this pivotal urinal is our flagship, our marker of change christening a century of modern & contemporary art to come, for better or worse. Fast forward 100 years thru thousands of “conceptual” works, climbing exponentially in price, we pass a man, Piero Manzoni, selling his own breath, (later to sell his own shit, for the weight of gold) dozens of million dollar single color canvases, a 12 million dollar stuffed shark, and an 80 million dollar metal Bunnie rabbit, which leads us to a banana. One lone banana taped to a wall in Miami FL during the most main stream art fair of our times. Art Basel. It was artist Maurizio Cattelan, a man who has built his career on making fun of the very absurdity that is the art world he finds himself a part of.

Lets break down the notion of this banana for a moment. Cattelan taped a banana to a wall & titled it “Comedian” He made it an edition of 5. (3 sold) Each art purchase comes with a certification of authenticity. That means that as long as you hold that piece of paper (the actual value behind the art piece) then you own that idea belonging to Cattelan. Any banana you tape to your wall is worth the value the art market deems as appropriate. I’ve no doubt that in the coming decade we will see this banana be passed around the elite. selling at auction in the millions. And honestly, it should be. For a self indulged, self obsessed art world, It has won. It has taken the cake for the notion of what it represents, and the way we ate it up. It states that there need not be anything permanent to coincide with an artists “idea” it is open market trading of ones thought. It states that artists are on such a pedestal, that their “ideas” are so valuable, there doesn’t need to be anything backing it. (sounds kind of like our financial system) And as long as two people can agree, a buyer, and a seller, Then the Idea can continue floating around from person to person retaining its value. Imagine that in 6 years “Comedian” sells at Sotheby’s for 1.2 million. They will have to enlist someone from the auction house to walk down to the local grocer and buy a roll of duct tape and a banana. Will they need to wear white gloves? Will they buy it with cash or card? Will they tell the clerk that he just sold a million Dollar banana for 99 cents?

It so blatantly screams the desperate gap between the classes. All the while mocking the rich as they tote around the holy banana like a group of their primate ancestors. This mockery trickles down to the masses as perhaps one of the bananas will find its way to a museum. And that museum will have to restrict the sheer numbers of people coming to take selfies with the banana. You can see it happening now, hop on instagram and type #bananaart and you will scroll thru a feed of thousands of imitation “comedians” all hailing the famous banana. Someone could eat that $120,000 banana every week and it would still retain its value. You can’t say that about the Mona Lisa. Bottom line, It won. The game is over. It has come full circle from fountain. It was the coup de grace, and now it is time to start a new game, and a new era of art. The art world has officially died, and it will have a banana on its urinal shaped tombstone. The good news is, this does not mean art is dead. Just the art market. These two works, and thousands that have stood between them state that artists are important. very important. So important that their mere ideas are priceless. Artists are alchemists with the ability to transform nothing into something, excrement to gold.

So whats next? Do we keep making art that snarkly notes the depressing reality of the world we live in? Or can we begin to acknowledge the power of creativity and use it to do more important things? Could global equality, renewable energy, poverty, illness, nature preservation, war, waste… be looked at as art projects? Needing creative solutions? What would that look like? What art project would you take on? There are cultures thru time that had no word for art. Living was art. Each day our action are artistic, creative, unique. The full circle ride that contemporary art has taken us on has brought us to a new horizon. Where we begin, or possibly remember, to let out the artist inside of us. And for those whose lives are already devoted to art, what are your goals? aspirations? Do you dream of being hung in a big white room next to a banana taped to a wall, or would you like to put your signature on ending deforestation? Correcting our carbon crisis? It is not that artists need to step down from their pedestals, it is that we all have have it in us to take the step up. Elevate. Every day. Your neighborhood is a gallery. Your city, a museum. This planet is our canvas. Lets make it beautiful.

Words By Prescott McCarthy

Post script
This is an art piece created at Basel Miami one year prior to “Comedian” by female artist Paige O’Toole.
Perrotin Gallery, which sold Comedian is quoted as saying “this work came to the artist’s mind a year ago. Back then, Cattelan was thinking of a sculpture that was shaped like a banana.”