What did 2019 bring you? The end of the year is invariably a time to take stock and ask ourselves the big questions.
We are counting our blessings.
The banana
For a few days at the tail-end of 2019, a banana turned our world on its head. For anyone who missed the hype: artist Maurizio Cattelan presented his latest work at a renowned Miami art fair. It was a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape. The art fair was flooded with spectators, entire timelines on social media were filled with bananas and the national and international press wrote piece after piece. Eventually, the banana had to be removed from the fair because it was causing too much of a stir. No birthday party or night out was complete without a mention of the banana. Even those friends with no interest in art joined the discussion or stuck a banana, pear or other item to the wall with tape.
The subject, especially the wide-ranging discussion about whether it was art, had us gripped. Isn’t it precisely what all museums dream about? Exactly. We decided to take out an option on the work.
Newspapers and TV programmes (that eventually chose to run with a different story, you know how it goes) phoned, emailed and quoted us. Friends and acquaintances either applauded our decision or declared that we were nuts.
In the end, the banana didn’t go to us.
For the banana, you will probably have to visit a museum across the pond. For the discussion, you can always come to us.
