Maurizio Cattelan and When Art “Ridicules Art Itself”

“This is an art which no longer presumes to speak to or for the general public. Such an art “assails all previous art” and even “ridicules art itself.”

It seems every year or so some new peculiarity from the Art World is cast into the public spotlight. Most recently, a single banana duct taped to a wall at the Basel Miami Art Fair sold for $120,000. Apparently, before artist Maurizio Cattelan (of golden toilet fame) could even cash his check, someone came along, untaped the banana from the wall and ate it.

The general public is more or less amused by such antics, while critics enlighten us on their cultural significance. We are told that a banana duct-taped to a wall is more than a banana duct-taped to a wall—or, alternately, that a banana duct-taped to a wall is nothing but a banana duct-taped to a wall. Apparently the words “profound” and “banal” are now synonyms. As often as not, we are further informed that our sensibilities have been “challenged” and “subverted.” Most of us don’t seem to be aware that we’ve been challenged and subverted, which is apparently why the adamantine public is in perpetual need of ever more challenging and subverting. This kind of thing has been going on for quite a while now, so we might well wonder: Why does it persist?

A Return to Nothing

Cattelan’s banana and golden toilet partake in a century-old tradition of “anti-art.”  Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset—in his 1925 essay “The Dehumanization of Art”—describes the emergence of a radically new sensibility in art, which was arising in response to the cultural and institutional collapse of Europe. For artists, all forms and conventions were called into question, and the very nature and purpose of art became problematic. This new art turns away from “lived reality,” observes Ortega, and “the artist is going against reality. He is shattering the human aspect, dehumanizing it.” This is an art which no longer presumes to speak to or for the general public. Such an art “assails all previous art” and even “ridicules art itself.”