Comedian (artwork) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Comedian |
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| Artist | Maurizio Cattelan |
| Year | 2019 |
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| Location | Art Basel, Miami Beach, U.S. |
Comedian is a famous artwork created in 2019 by an Italian artist named Maurizio Cattelan. It looks like a fresh banana stuck to a wall with duct tape. This artwork is a type of conceptual art. This means the idea behind the art is more important than the physical object itself.
Comedian was made in three copies. Two of these copies were sold for US$120,000 each at an art show called Art Basel Miami Beach. This sale got a lot of attention in the news.
What is Comedian?
Maurizio Cattelan is an artist known for his funny and thought-provoking art. For example, he once made a working toilet out of gold called America.
Comedian is simply a fresh banana taped to a wall. Cattelan bought the bananas from a grocery store in Miami. They cost about 30 cents each. The artwork comes with a special paper called a certificate of authenticity. This paper proves the artwork is real. It also has detailed instructions on how to display the banana.
The banana and the duct tape can be changed if they get old. The actual banana and tape are not the artwork itself. The artwork is the idea and the certificate. This was Cattelan's first artwork for a big art fair in over 15 years. Some people compared it to the fruit art made by Andy Warhol in 1967.
Why was Comedian removed?
On Sunday, December 8, 2019, Comedian was taken down from the art fair. The people in charge of the fair removed it. They were worried that too many people lining up to see the banana might damage other artworks nearby.
After the artwork was removed, the gallery that showed it, Perrotin, made a social media account just for Comedian.
