Conceptual art: on the rise after the sale of a 'banana' for R$ 35 million, Brazilian names recall the movement and its role since the dictatorship
Conceptual art: on the rise after the sale of a 'banana' for R$ 35 million, Brazilian names recall the movement and its role since the dictatorship .      Composed of a fruit taped to the wall, 'Comedian', by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, reached a multimillion-dollar figure at a Sotheby's auction. In Brazil, the style was influential in the 1960s and 1970s Five years ago, Maurizio Cattelan purchased several bananas for about $0.30 each at a Miami supermarket. He then headed to Art Basel Miami Beach, the premier art fair in the Americas, which opens its 22nd edition next Wednesday in the American seaside city. The artist taped a banana to the wall of the prestigious Perrotin gallery's stand and put it up for sale
Jornal O Globo
Five years ago, Maurizio Cattelan purchased several bananas for about $0.30 each at a Miami supermarket. He then headed to Art Basel Miami Beach, the premier art fair in the Americas, which opens its 22nd edition next Wednesday in the American seaside city. The artist taped a banana to the wall of the prestigious Perrotin gallery's stand and put it up for sale for $120,000 (R$697,000 at the current exchange rate).

What might seem like another iconoclastic work by the Italian, known for pieces like “America” (2016)—a functional toilet entirely cast in 18-karat gold, displayed at the Guggenheim in New York and stolen in 2019 when exhibited at Blenheim Palace in England—“Comedian” went beyond satirical critique of the art market and became one of its significant assets. On the 21st of last month, the piece sold for $6.2 million (approximately R$ 35.7 million) at a Sotheby’s auction to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.

Although the unimaginable price for a simple banana captured attention both inside and outside the art world, what Sun acquired was the rights to the conceptual piece created by Cattelan, complete with a certificate of authenticity and detailed instructions for its proper display—including how to replace the fruit whenever it decays. In a limited edition of three units (besides the one sold in Miami, another was donated to the Guggenheim-NY), “Comedian” follows in the footsteps of French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), who sent a porcelain urinal signed with the pseudonym “Richard Mutt,” titled “Fountain,” to a 1917 exhibition by the Society of Independent Artists in New York. With his famous ready-mades, everyday objects repurposed as art, Duchamp proposed that the artistic concept could reside in the idea behind an object, not just its physical creation, marking one of the major revolutions in 20th-century art.

'Comedian' by Maurizio Cattelan sold for R$35 million — Foto: Kena Betancur/Agence France-Presse

In Brazil, conceptual art gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s for various reasons, including the intensified repression of the military dictatorship, which prompted the exploration of experimental freedoms and the tackling of issues that traditional techniques and mediums could not address.

Long before Cattelan's ventures into exhibiting food in institutional and market environments—such as “A Very White Sandwich” (1966), a French roll stuffed with cotton—Cildo Meireles created some of the most iconic pieces of Brazilian conceptual art with his “Insertions into Ideological Circuits,” featured in the “Information” exhibition at MoMA in New York in 1970.

Not only appropriating everyday objects but also returning them to their original circulation, Cildo inserted anti-regime messages into Coca-Cola bottles (including instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails) and banknotes stamped with phrases like “Who killed Herzog?”, demanding accountability for the journalist’s 1975 murder at the hands of the DOI-Codi in São Paulo. Proving the series' continued relevance beyond the dictatorship, in 2019, the artist used R$2 and R$5 notes to pose the question: “Who killed Marielle?”

— My intention was contrary to Duchamp's. Instead of bringing the object into the gallery, I wanted it returned, modified, to the environment where it circulates. The core concept behind the 'Insertions' is this circulation — explains Cildo. — At that time, it meant giving voice to a repressed segment of society, using societal mechanisms that could allow this flow of information and ideas.

Cildo Meireles and one of his sound artworks in his studio — Foto: Fabio Rossi

Another Brazilian artist involved in the iconic “Information” show, Hélio Oiticica became a contemporary art reference by transcending the idea of the art object, involving the viewer in artworks like his penetrables, or making them a part of it, as seen in his parangolés activations. Despite these contributions, he disliked being labeled “conceptual,” as Antonio Manuel, his friend and creator of works such as “Hot Ballots” and “Corpobra,” recalls. The latter is an acrylic box containing photos of the artist posing nude at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio, 1970.

— We often discussed this, and we were cautious about conceptual and pop art. What we did was a language exploration; we wanted to bring the body into the work, a sensory pursuit — Antonio Manuel remembers. — Of course, there was a concept behind it, but we were interested in presence and action.

Duchamp and 'Duchinha'

An admirer of Cattelan's work, Antonio Manuel recalls visiting the “All” exhibition in 2011 at the Guggenheim in New York, where the Italian artist suspended various objects from the museum ceiling, creating a sort of suspended inventory. For the Brazilian artist, it’s intriguing to see how “Comedian” began as a critique of the art market, only to be embraced by the same system.

— It’s a powerful piece, being ephemeral yet renewable with the banana replacement. I see it as a form of resistance against a system, from which you try to escape somehow, — Antonio Manuel observes. — Even though the work is absorbed by the market, the initial 'banana' to the system was already delivered. Everything that happened afterward is part of this act of protest.

With a solo exhibition recently opened at Mendes Wood DM gallery and another showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC-USP), both in São Paulo, and participating in the group exhibition “Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960-1991” at the Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (Mudam), Anna Bella Geiger, aged 91, explored conceptual art from the 1960s, moving away from the informal abstraction of her early career into what she calls her visceral phase. Utilizing multiple mediums such as photography, sculpture, video, and painting, she created series like “Native Brazil/Alien Brazil,” appropriating postcards idealizing the Bororo people of Mato Grosso, juxtaposing them with photos of herself and her family to debate identity and prejudice.

— There was the issue of the dictatorship, of seeking forms of expression, but there was also an exploration of new languages, influenced by artists from abroad — Anna Bella comments. — We did everything intuitively, and many people didn’t understand. When I left printmaking and took a more radical path, some from the abstractionist circle stopped speaking to me, not comprehending the proposal.

Anna Bella Geiger in her studio in Flamengo — Foto: Leo Martins

Later, Anna Bella made a direct nod to Duchamp with the series “Rrose Sélavy Even,” altering newspaper pages, both Brazilian and foreign, with images and silkscreen “camouflages” over the texts. “Rrose Sélavy” was a female alter ego created by the French artist, a play on the phrase “Eros, c’est la vie” (“Eros, that’s life,” referring to the Greek god as a synonym for eroticism).

— I used Duchamp’s images as Rrose Sélavy, as a female figure, over the covers, removing parts of headlines and news with interferences. I never added any words, only removed them from the page, leaving political messages in a metaphorical form — the artist explains.

Another artist paying homage to Duchamp, showcasing the impact of conceptual art on contemporary production, Aleta Valente presented her work “Fountain/First Love” at the 14th edition of ArtRio in September. The piece features a bidet shower affixed to a tiled wall, referencing Duchamp’s iconic urinal, with Aleta offering a feminine perspective on the ready-made as an object of sexual discovery and pleasure for women at home.

— It was insane how many women saw the piece at ArtRio and came to talk to me. Many said it brought back childhood and adolescent memories, and others said they had no idea other women used the shower that way. They said there was Duchamp and the 'Duchinha' — Aleta laughs. — Conceptual art has this power to communicate instantly; once you see that object displaced, it takes on a new meaning. For women, at least, it was like that with the piece.

'Fonte/Primeiro Amor' by Aleta Valente — Foto: Press Release

Recognized as one of the leading representatives of conceptual art in Brazil, Cildo Meireles says he reconciled with the term in the 2000s after some time of resistance.

— At one point, I grew tired of it, because at any conceptual art exhibition, you had to read a bunch of artist texts, which are often dull (laughs). I tried to distance myself from it, until a friend who was imprisoned during the dictatorship mentioned that when a toothpick or cigarette cellophane entered the cell, he would imagine what I and my colleagues could do with it — Cildo recounts. — Then I understood how it was a free, democratic movement, allowing art to be made with almost nothing, without depending on material or space.
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2024-11-29
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     Composed of a fruit taped to the wall, 'Comedian', by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, reached a multimillion-dollar figure at a Sotheby's auction. In Brazil, the style was influential in the 1960s and 1970s Five years ago, Maurizio Cattelan purchased several bananas for about $0.30 each at a Miami supermarket. He then headed to Art Basel Miami Beach, the premier art fair in the Americas, which opens its 22nd edition next Wednesday in the American seaside city. The artist taped a banana to the wall of the prestigious Perrotin gallery's stand and put it up for sale for $120,000 (R$697,000 at the current exchange rate).
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What might seem like another iconoclastic work by the Italian, known for pieces like “America” (2016)—a functional toilet entirely cast in 18-karat gold, displayed at the Guggenheim in New York and stolen in 2019 when exhibited at Blenheim Palace in England—“Comedian” went beyond satirical critique of the art market and became one of its significant assets. On the 21st of last month, the piece sold for $6.2 million (approximately R$ 35.7 million) at a Sotheby’s auction to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.
Although the unimaginable price for a simple banana captured attention both inside and outside the art world, what Sun acquired was the rights to the conceptual piece created by Cattelan, complete with a certificate of authenticity and detailed instructions for its proper display—including how to replace the fruit whenever it decays. In a limited edition of three units (besides the one sold in Miami, another was donated to the Guggenheim-NY), “Comedian” follows in the footsteps of French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), who sent a porcelain urinal signed with the pseudonym “Richard Mutt,” titled “Fountain,” to a 1917 exhibition by the Society of Independent Artists in New York. With his famous ready-mades, everyday objects repurposed as art, Duchamp proposed that the artistic concept could reside in the idea behind an object, not just its physical creation, marking one of the major revolutions in 20th-century art.
'Comedian' by Maurizio Cattelan sold for R$35 million
Kena Betancur/Agence France-Presse
In Brazil, conceptual art gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s for various reasons, including the intensified repression of the military dictatorship, which prompted the exploration of experimental freedoms and the tackling of issues that traditional techniques and mediums could not address.
Long before Cattelan's ventures into exhibiting food in institutional and market environments—such as “A Very White Sandwich” (1966), a French roll stuffed with cotton—Cildo Meireles created some of the most iconic pieces of Brazilian conceptual art with his “Insertions into Ideological Circuits,” featured in the “Information” exhibition at MoMA in New York in 1970.
Not only appropriating everyday objects but also returning them to their original circulation, Cildo inserted anti-regime messages into Coca-Cola bottles (including instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails) and banknotes stamped with phrases like “Who killed Herzog?”, demanding accountability for the journalist’s 1975 murder at the hands of the DOI-Codi in São Paulo. Proving the series' continued relevance beyond the dictatorship, in 2019, the artist used R$2 and R$5 notes to pose the question: “Who killed Marielle?”
— My intention was contrary to Duchamp's. Instead of bringing the object into the gallery, I wanted it returned, modified, to the environment where it circulates. The core concept behind the 'Insertions' is this circulation — explains Cildo. — At that time, it meant giving voice to a repressed segment of society, using societal mechanisms that could allow this flow of information and ideas.
Cildo Meireles and one of his sound artworks in his studio
Fabio Rossi
Another Brazilian artist involved in the iconic “Information” show, Hélio Oiticica became a contemporary art reference by transcending the idea of the art object, involving the viewer in artworks like his penetrables, or making them a part of it, as seen in his parangolés activations. Despite these contributions, he disliked being labeled “conceptual,” as Antonio Manuel, his friend and creator of works such as “Hot Ballots” and “Corpobra,” recalls. The latter is an acrylic box containing photos of the artist posing nude at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio, 1970.
— We often discussed this, and we were cautious about conceptual and pop art. What we did was a language exploration; we wanted to bring the body into the work, a sensory pursuit — Antonio Manuel remembers. — Of course, there was a concept behind it, but we were interested in presence and action.
Duchamp and 'Duchinha'
An admirer of Cattelan's work, Antonio Manuel recalls visiting the “All” exhibition in 2011 at the Guggenheim in New York, where the Italian artist suspended various objects from the museum ceiling, creating a sort of suspended inventory. For the Brazilian artist, it’s intriguing to see how “Comedian” began as a critique of the art market, only to be embraced by the same system.
— It’s a powerful piece, being ephemeral yet renewable with the banana replacement. I see it as a form of resistance against a system, from which you try to escape somehow, — Antonio Manuel observes. — Even though the work is absorbed by the market, the initial 'banana' to the system was already delivered. Everything that happened afterward is part of this act of protest.
With a solo exhibition recently opened at Mendes Wood DM gallery and another showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC-USP), both in São Paulo, and participating in the group exhibition “Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960-1991” at the Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (Mudam), Anna Bella Geiger, aged 91, explored conceptual art from the 1960s, moving away from the informal abstraction of her early career into what she calls her visceral phase. Utilizing multiple mediums such as photography, sculpture, video, and painting, she created series like “Native Brazil/Alien Brazil,” appropriating postcards idealizing the Bororo people of Mato Grosso, juxtaposing them with photos of herself and her family to debate identity and prejudice.
— There was the issue of the dictatorship, of seeking forms of expression, but there was also an exploration of new languages, influenced by artists from abroad — Anna Bella comments. — We did everything intuitively, and many people didn’t understand. When I left printmaking and took a more radical path, some from the abstractionist circle stopped speaking to me, not comprehending the proposal.
Anna Bella Geiger in her studio in Flamengo
Leo Martins
Later, Anna Bella made a direct nod to Duchamp with the series “Rrose Sélavy Even,” altering newspaper pages, both Brazilian and foreign, with images and silkscreen “camouflages” over the texts. “Rrose Sélavy” was a female alter ego created by the French artist, a play on the phrase “Eros, c’est la vie” (“Eros, that’s life,” referring to the Greek god as a synonym for eroticism).
— I used Duchamp’s images as Rrose Sélavy, as a female figure, over the covers, removing parts of headlines and news with interferences. I never added any words, only removed them from the page, leaving political messages in a metaphorical form — the artist explains.
Another artist paying homage to Duchamp, showcasing the impact of conceptual art on contemporary production, Aleta Valente presented her work “Fountain/First Love” at the 14th edition of ArtRio in September. The piece features a bidet shower affixed to a tiled wall, referencing Duchamp’s iconic urinal, with Aleta offering a feminine perspective on the ready-made as an object of sexual discovery and pleasure for women at home.
— It was insane how many women saw the piece at ArtRio and came to talk to me. Many said it brought back childhood and adolescent memories, and others said they had no idea other women used the shower that way. They said there was Duchamp and the 'Duchinha' — Aleta laughs. — Conceptual art has this power to communicate instantly; once you see that object displaced, it takes on a new meaning. For women, at least, it was like that with the piece.
'Fonte/Primeiro Amor' by Aleta Valente
Press Release
Recognized as one of the leading representatives of conceptual art in Brazil, Cildo Meireles says he reconciled with the term in the 2000s after some time of resistance.
— At one point, I grew tired of it, because at any conceptual art exhibition, you had to read a bunch of artist texts, which are often dull (laughs). I tried to distance myself from it, until a friend who was imprisoned during the dictatorship mentioned that when a toothpick or cigarette cellophane entered the cell, he would imagine what I and my colleagues could do with it — Cildo recounts. — Then I understood how it was a free, democratic movement, allowing art to be made with almost nothing, without depending on material or space.
The translation of this text into english was carried out by Project Irineu, O GLOBO's initiative to develop artificial intelligence tools. Here is the link to the original report.
Conceptual art: on the rise after the sale of a 'banana' for R$ 35 million, Brazilian names recall the movement and its role since the dictatorship