The adage was made for this.

It's just a stupid stunt some guy calls "art."

Art takes talent, and imagination.

This is just a stupid stunt, and the guy who paid $120,000 for it, is even dumber.

Mmmm, banana bread!

or peanut butter and bread......

Money launderers are now using art purchases to move money around.

Just like real estate and casinos, art purchases are not well regulated, making it easy for money launderers to make purchases at highly inflated prices.

That’s how Trump got away with selling, say a $5 million property to a Russian for $50 million.

In the world of money laundering, that's a tiny amount and wouldn't be notice by the system. That amount could be transferred as "consulting fees" or simply spent live as cash over a few weeks or months.

If it were $12m or $120m. Oh yes.

But $120k? nah. Especially for something this visible, which is the LAST thing that criminals want.

Nope. This is an exchange between a "artist" and a rich friend of his/her. No doubt that most of that money will go straight back to the source, but the "fame" will last.

An Italian artist "commented" on this absurdity in 1961. What did he do?

Artist's Shit (Italian: Merda d'artista) is a 1961 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, each reportedly filled with 30 grams of [his own] feces, and measuring 4.8 by 6.5 centimetres (1.9 in × 2.6 in), with a label in Italian, English, French, and German stating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_Shit

Artist's Sh*t

Contents 30 gr net
Freshly preserved
Produced and tinned
in May 1961

People debated for a long time about what was actually in the cans until the seal broke on one of them. At which point his integrity was confirmed!

A guy puts globs of paint on a canvas, on a floor, then drives over the paint.

Another guy stands behind a jet engine, when the engine is revved up, the "artist" throws buckets of paint into the backwash, to get blown on to a canvas.

And there is that guy who liked wrapping up islands and such in plastic.

"Oh, it's art! Because I say so!"

Bullshit.

Sometimes doing extreme things gets a lot of attention. Sometimes it fails. But then there are to ones who do really good work and are genuine about what they're trying to achieve.

I try to ignore the extreme and shallow ones -- and ... as I'm writing this I'm so aware of how it's the same as what's going on in politics in our country. Except we can't ignore any of it!

He really had final say on the matter, so to speak. I mean ... he really said it perfectly. Threw it right into their faces.

But still -- the art dealers loved it and made a buck. I'm wondering now just how much those tins are selling for today?

He paid multi-millions on a rabbit, why not a banana?

Never did hang out in the lounge much, but she is a very funny person

It’s super ugly. I will take no less than a million dollars for it

One year I was at Art Basel an incident happened after I left - a woman got into an argument with another woman then pulled out a knife and proceeded to stab her. In full view of everyone. As the victim began bleeding and screaming for help, the art patrons gathered around and watched what they thought was "performance art". Finally police and paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital where she was treated and released. Totally bananas!

some fool will buy it from you." ~ George Carlin

"That's where I left it."

Who would buy something for 120k that will just rot. And even if it wouldn't rot, it's still ludicrous.
Seeing money laundering mentioned here and suddenly it all makes sense. But that would mean the artist is directly involved in that and that the buyers are somehow connected.

The higher priced one must be an organic banana.

89¢ in materials

The banana will decay if I let it go too long, and leave a mark on the wall I subject it to. Maybe one of the replacement bananas will bring fruit flies for added visual intrigue? Considering the banana blight going around, seems a lascivious sacrifice of a fruit in peril. Why banana? How about a crown of broccoli? Requires more tape...

I question who the purchasers might be. And what would I do with the $120k instead? It's a stunt, a gimmick tbs. But is a head-jarring one. I think I got $2 of entertainment value pondering the darn thing, roughly the same as a scratch-off lotto ticket. Only, I could 'win' this if I really wanted to, and wouldn't it be nearly as authentic as the ones garnering certificates of originality?

Ha.

Rather enjoyed the Miami Herald's take as well: https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-basel/article238038389.html

Spare me the tears, rich people.

Does the winner of the auction also get the banana's standard supply of gnats?

That lady's nails are much better art.......

This reminds me of the Banksy piece auctioned off in a frame at an art show that had an automatic mechanism to shred the piece right after it sold.....



"This banana will self-destruct in four days"

KY...........

The artist did this so he wouldn't forget where he left his banana.

...art are:

1. visually pleasing or interesting (to me)
2. something that I could not possibly create

This "art is 0 for 2.