# Million dollar/six year old kid sister art {Banana Art} **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [November 22, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616 "2024-11-22T16:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/21 "2024-11-22T19:25:10Z")
The six-year-old would duct tape the banana to the wall crookedly. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/22 "2024-11-22T19:43:46Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > > [@dirtball](#): > > > > In the words of Andy Warhol, “Art is what you can get away with.” > > He was right, but the unspoken part is _"in a society with wealth stratification so extreme that the wealthy are simply **out** of opportunities for display._" > > With extreme stratification, those at the top compete against their few peers to be the most obscene and grotesque in their displays. In principle no one has the right to complain simply because someone wants to waste money on frivolity, but it’s the wealth stratification that makes it so offensive. There are so many important causes that the $6 million could have significantly helped with that spending it on a duct-taped banana is nothing short of obscene. > [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Remember, art doesn’t have to be pretty or attractive. Some of the best art is horrific or causes us to experience conflict. You don’t have to _like_ a piece of art for it to be meaningful. That’s quite true, but art is also personal and subjective. And personally, I have no use for art that doesn’t beautify, even in some subtle way. I stress that I definitely don’t mean that art should be “decorative”, although many think of it in those terms; I mean things like evoking some unidentifiable positive emotion or admiration for the artist’s skill. One thing I object to is when governments or large institutions commission some artsy-fartsy type – some resident “artiste” – to either create or select a work of art like a sculpture for permanent public display, like outside a large building, and the thing that is produced looks like it might be the result of a serious car crash or a meteorite impact on a municipal dump. Maybe shit like that has a place in some avant-garde museum, but it shouldn’t be foisted off on an innocent public that was probably forced to pay for it, too. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Somebody said “art for arts sake” > > Lots of beautiful, artsy things are functional. Architecture, bridges, things that have a purpose. > > True, really true art doesn’t need to work or function. It just needs to be. I do appreciate art for art’s sake, but TBH I probably appreciate good functional product design even more (“product” in the broadest sense of any useful object, from can-openers to buildings and bridges). The principle of “form follows function” is a very powerful one. A product designed with the idea “it would look cool if we made it like this” usually results in ugliness and sometimes chintzy pretentiousness (e.g.- giant tail fins on some 1950s-era American cars); a product designed with the idea “it would be more functional if we made it like this” often results in beauty (e.g.- some design elements of Mercedes cars). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/23 "2024-11-22T20:03:17Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > There are so many important causes that the $6 million could have significantly helped with that spending it on a duct-taped banana is nothing short of obscene. This is another whole conversation, I feel. If _I_ had (an extra) $6M, I would definitely try to use it for good. But at what point is it an individuals _obligation_ to help society at large? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/24 "2024-11-22T20:12:52Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > at what point is it an individuals _obligation_ to help society at large? At the point where they’ve constructively contributed at least 100x that much to alleviate the suffering of their needy fellow creatures, both human and non-human. Until then they’re being immoral selfish jerks. But you’re right, this is a whole other conversation. It was just a point I wanted to make in passing because it irks me so much. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/25 "2024-11-22T20:26:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > It’s some sort of money-laundering scheme, isn’t it? Yea, that was my first thought. Or a zero-sums game for publicity sake: the buyer and seller worked out an agreement that the seller would repay the buyer afterwards, behind-the-scenes. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/26 "2024-11-22T20:43:29Z")
I joked once that whoever sponsored Da Vinci bragged to all his friends “I’ve got Da Vinci” ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/27 "2024-11-22T20:46:49Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Be honest…you KNOW the “artists” are taking folks with too damned much money for a ride at their expense. I mean the joke’s on THEM, right? In this case, the artist didn’t get the millions. The artist sold three “copies” of the original piece for around $120,000 each. It was the original buyer that resold the piece that will receive the bulk of the millions with the auction house getting a cut. Artist receives none of the resell profit (they do in other countries, but not the US). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/28 "2024-11-22T20:48:43Z")
A previous “shit on a plate” debate about art: > [@Who is a more important artist, Mark Kostabi or Jeff Koons?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-a-more-important-artist-mark-kostabi-or-jeff-koons/453550/7?page=3): > > I can’t help feeling that Koons’ entire body of work is a brilliant, decades long prank, and on his deathbed he’ll be laughing his ass off that the art world actually fell for it. “They actually hung those photos of me fucking my porn star wife! Ha! I thought I had pushed it too far with the giant chrome inflatable rabbit, but no. What do I have to do? Shit on a paper plate and call it art?” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/29 "2024-11-22T21:17:56Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > What he bought is a certificate that enables him to place his own banana and duct duct on a wall of his choice and call it, “Comedian”. I just feel I should point out that this is very, very common with conceptual art. For example, Lawrence Weiner: > **[Lawrence Weiner | Pace Gallery](https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/lawrence-weiner/)** Many of his pieces are just an intricate description of how to recreate them in a new location. There are a lot of other artists who do the same thing: > **[Pin River, Colorado River (Río pin, Río Colorado) - Phoenix Art Museum](https://phxart.org/arts/pin-river-colorado-river-rio-de-alfileres-rio-colorado/)** > > Maya Lin’s Systematic Landscapes series explores rivers throughout the United States. Lin uses minimalist forms to examine her deep interest in the environment by digitally mapping out the topographic lines of the winding Colorado River. Blending... and > **[Wall Drawing #1146 c A sphere lit from the top (Dibujo de la pared #1146 c...](https://phxart.org/arts/wall-drawing-1146-ca-sphere-lit-from-the-topdibujo-de-la-pared-1146-c-esfera-iluminada-desde-lo-alto/)** ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/30 "2024-11-22T21:51:31Z")
People interested in this thread may want to read _Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See_, by Bianca Bosker. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/31 "2024-11-22T22:05:47Z")
Too bad there’s been no replacement in the popular media for Robert Hughes’ cantankerous art (“aht”) criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/32 "2024-11-22T22:33:47Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > One thing I object to is when governments or large institutions commission some artsy-fartsy type – some resident “artiste” – to either create or select a work of art like a sculpture for permanent public display, like outside a large building, and the thing that is produced looks like it might be the result of a serious car crash or a meteorite impact on a municipal dump. Maybe shit like that has a place in some avant-garde museum, but it shouldn’t be foisted off on an innocent public that was probably forced to pay for it, too. You might not like it but when I’m in an airport, train station or public plaza, I appreciate seeing some piece of sculpture or visual art; it helps the time to pass more pleasantly. Mobiles or interactive art can be especially fun. > [@wolfpup](#): > > I do appreciate art for art’s sake, but TBH I probably appreciate good functional product design even more (“product” in the broadest sense of any useful object, from can-openers to buildings and bridges). The principle of “form follows function” is a very powerful one. And “form follows function” is how you end up with some examples of boring modern architecture or even worse, Brutalist architecture. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/33 "2024-11-22T22:47:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You might not like it but when I’m in an airport, train station or public plaza, I appreciate seeing some piece of sculpture or visual art; it helps the time to pass more pleasantly. Of course! That is its entire purpose. But it should have positive aesthetic qualities. What I’m saying is that it fails in that purpose when it’s ugly, and looks like a garbage dump or some unfortunate fatal accident. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And “form follows function” is how you end up with some examples of boring modern architecture or even worse, Brutalist architecture. “Form follows function” is a very broad principle that doesn’t tell you how to design pleasingly aesthetic art. It’s just a very important general principle that often results in natural beauty, even when it wasn’t specifically intended. For example, the elegant swept-back wings of jet airliners were enhanced even further by the beautiful bird-like wings of the Boeing 787 – that design, just like the design of birds themselves, being 100% based on function and nothing else. Even the things that look like silvery trim rings at the engine nacelles have a purpose – they are unpainted because they contain heating elements to prevent icing. It’s just amazing how often “form follows function” leads to elegant design. [![](https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/commercial/787/assets/images/marquee-2019.jpg) ](https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/commercial/787/assets/images/marquee-2019.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/34 "2024-11-22T23:00:53Z")
Probably should be it’s own thread, but - Art doesn’t need to be “pretty.” A good art piece is supposed to evoke an emotion, or start a conversation, or inspire a thought. It’s not just supposed to look nice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/35 "2024-11-22T23:15:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > There are so many important causes that the $6 million could have significantly helped with that spending it on a duct-taped banana is nothing short of obscene. For a moment, put aside the guy who spent the money; to me, the interesting question is: what about the guy who _got_ the money? If he uses it to advance a good cause, then what’s the appropriate take on the situation as a whole — including banana-art rights changing hands, in the process of the money going where you’d like for it to go — and what’s the take if _not?_ ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/36 "2024-11-22T23:33:29Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > For a moment, put aside the guy who spent the money; to me, the interesting question is: what about the guy who _got_ the money? One can only speculate, but speculation can include the application of common sense to the likely motivations of seller and buyer. The seller may be a scammer, or a well-established artist seeking a creative way to make some quick bux, or any number of other discreditable things. But the buyer of this crap has to be someone with more money than brains, more money to throw away than most of us can hope to ever possess in our lifetime. Both buyer and seller may well be assholes, but it’s the buyer with more money than brains that is the particular target of my disdain. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/37 "2024-11-22T23:42:54Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > But the buyer of this crap has to be someone with more money than brains, more money to throw away than most of us can hope to ever possess in our lifetime. In which case, my question is: is a Robin Hood seller who preys on such a buyer to be devoutly wished? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2024, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/38 "2024-11-22T23:55:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > … is a Robin Hood seller who preys on such a buyer to be devoutly wished? No, my point is that the **buyer** of such frivolity is to be devoutly condemned, the sort who has the means to help his fellow citizens, the sort who has the means to help support homeless families, the means to support children going to school hungry and malnourished, but who prefers to spend his millions on a duct-taped banana. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/39 "2024-11-23T01:02:41Z")
But the money is still _there_; he didn’t set it on fire, he just handed it to someone else, who could now support the homeless and/or schoolkids, et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616/40 "2024-11-23T01:21:16Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Oh, no. It can replaced as needed. Or not. In fact this is like the fourth iteration. The original was eaten by a fellow artist. Version 2 and 3 were sold for $120,000 and $140,000. The buyer does not even get the one on display. What he bought is a certificate that enables him to place his own banana and duct duct on a wall of his choice and call it, “Comedian”. Remember, the buyer is a crypto-king so the idea of making value out of nothing is perfectly normal to him.‘’ Does this mean that if I were to duct tape a banana to a wall in my house and call it “Comedian” I could be charged with art forgery because I didn’t pay $6 million for a piece of paper? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/million-dollar-six-year-old-kid-sister-art-banana-art/1010616.md?page=3)