According to Hofmann: Going bananas for art
Subjects for conversation while sitting around the dinner table for my family include what鈥檚 appropriate (family memories and catching up), what鈥檚 inappropriate (politics, bathroom habits, or both combined) and what鈥檚 necessary (controversies in the world of modern art).
In case you鈥檝e missed the headlines in the past month, there was a shakeup in the art world when performance artist David Datuna ate a banana, but it wasn鈥檛 just any banana.
The banana was taped to a wall, but it wasn鈥檛 just any wall.
The wall was in the Art Basel art fair in Miami Beach, Florida, but it wasn鈥檛 just any art fair.
Well okay, it was just an art fair, but the banana and the tape were considered valuable art.
The banana and the tape is the work of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, it鈥檚 titled 鈥淐omedian鈥� and was sold to a collector for $120,000.
At times like this, I can hear the voice of my dearly-departed dad saying, 鈥淭hey paid how much?! I can tape a banana to a wall, and I鈥檒l do it for $500.鈥�
Yet, when Datuna ate the banana, it caused quite a stir. The crowd gasped and people were confused beyond the normal confusion that comes with trying to decipher art. The gallery contacted security and even the police were notified about the brazen art theft鈥r defacement鈥r digestion.
Datuna explained that he, as a performance artist, did not destroy the art, because he was making art 鈥� the banana was the idea of the original piece, and eating the banana was his artistic expression as an answer for that artistic expression.
If you鈥檙e confused, then best to think of it as a poker player seeing an artistic expression and then raising an artistic expression.
Of course, Cattelan was clearly the winner in terms of profit from the ordeal as I鈥檓 trying to figure out how Datuna would make money off of his art because he鈥檚 a performance artist, yet he didn鈥檛 charge anyone to watch him eat a banana.
Perhaps he鈥檚 just a starving artist and named his performance piece 鈥淣ourished鈥� to avoid criminal charges.
Maybe he鈥檒l make money by doing one-man shows in a theater where he charges people to watch him reenact the banana-idea-eating spectacle in the same way other artists reproduce their works. Then, I bet Cattelan would show up in disguise and throw a banana cream pie on stage. It would lead to the most gaudy turf war since the Sharks and the Jets went at it in 鈥淲est Side Story.鈥�
I鈥檓 not going to go into art appreciation and how effective art is supposed to make the viewer feel, which, in my experience, is slightly parched and constipated.
What I don鈥檛 plan to do is make rational people appreciate a banana on the wall or appreciate that the banana is eaten for the sake of art; I want to make rational people understand why people appreciate it.
So, think of a piece of art as an explosion and think of the people who appreciate art as its victims.
Of course, ground zero would be the art gallery where the first victim to be vaporized is the curator who approved the monstrosity in the first place and was smitten enough to hang (or tape) it on the wall.
From there, the seriously injured victims include the gallery regulars who are used to applauding stupidity only because it鈥檚 on display in an art gallery.
Next are the moderately injured people who succumb to peer pressure from the art-gallery regulars and give the art high praise, but secretly wonder if they鈥檙e having a practical joke being played on them or if they鈥檙e getting prepped to enter a cult.
If the explosion metaphor isn鈥檛 working, maybe it鈥檚 better to think about the well-known criticism of modern art, that someone鈥檚 kid can create something better.
Now think about the smitten parent who feels the need to tape on the refrigerator a crayon drawing of a purple house that looks like a wrinkled bubble.
From that point, anyone who enters the house is compelled to look at the art and give it praise no matter what they really think of it.
Eventually, however, the further you go away from the house and the circle of support for the child artist, you鈥檒l get the brutally-honest third cousin in the family to take a look and give a fair, honest assessment.
鈥淭hat crap looks just like a piece of modern art.鈥�
So, in conclusion, if you鈥檙e wondering what the point of this entire column is, then you鈥檙e right. This, too, is art and is open for interpretation and no critical questioning, but it will be taped on the refrigerator by my mother and then likely eaten by the dog and discussed thoroughly at next Sunday鈥檚 dinner table.
According to Hofmann is written by staff reporter Mark Hofmann of Rostraver Township. He hosts the 鈥淟ocally Yours鈥� radio show on WMBS 590 AM every Friday. His book, 鈥漇tupid Brain,鈥� is available on Amazon.com.