Of Bananas & Duct Tape
Putting aside the excesses of today’s art world
Without any explanation, many of you already had an image in your head. Immediately after the image in your head transformed into many adjectives, possibly those were not very nice. One could be forgiven for those first thoughts and regrets of casting a wide net on today’s art world as completely cynical. I’d imagine the artist, the auction houses, and the curators all probably think the same. (For those with no immediate notion, recall this…)
Even the first couple of buyers of the limited editions of ”The Comedian” probably thought the same. The last buyer might have thought a little differently. My completely speculative guess was it was just a flex. Here’s why: the first couple of buyers were low six-digit spends. That last buyer, a crypto-bro, not only spent seven-digits but went so far as to best the Sotheby’s by 5X.
Put all of that aside for now. I’d ask all of you to also suspend that perfectly natural and reasonable leap to “The Emperor Has No Clothes” assessment. I’m asking you to suspend that leap because you’re exactly, diametrically, incorrect. In fact, it’s far more a tale of “The Clothes Have No Emperor”; it is in fact all about the clothes.
Comedian is a 2019 artwork by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Created in an edition of three (with two artist’s proofs), it appears as a fresh banana duct-taped to a wall. As a work of conceptual art, it consists of a certificate of authenticity with detailed diagrams and instructions for its proper display. At a Sotheby’s auction in 2024, versions of Comedian sold for over $6 million — one sale hit $6.2 million.
We repeat two themes here on PaperArts more than just about any other: Curation and presentation. Those two things are absolutely essential for your work before and after making prints. There’s one fragment of the above summary from Wikipedia I want to point out. Notice the specific component right after the COA, “with detailed dialogue and instructions for its proper display”. Take this seriously, very seriously. The artist did, the venues it was shown in did, Sotheby’s did, and so did the $6.2m buyer. So should you when treating your own work seriously.
In all of our workshops, we discuss these notions to one degree or another. We treat each participant’s work with equal care and seriousness. That is probably the single thread we’ve built our workshops on over the last 20 years. It’s also the thing we learned over and over again ourselves when curating and presenting our own work. I love photography, and I love experiencing it in print, in a well-curated, well-designed presentation, and in a well-designed space. Most of the photographs we’ve designed presentations for have been Les’ photographs, but I consider the final presentation or exhibition our work.
Some of the biggest disappointments we’ve had have been constraints that we’ve been subject to in particular spaces. Constraints in curation, constraints in presentation, and especially constraints in lighting. While many of those have been commercially successful, we were not satisfied with the way the work was presented. It’s also a big part of why I’m not the biggest fan of print contests or group exhibitions that have no thought to curation or presentation.
Those are typically a lot like rolling up a Renoir and shoving it on a wall with 42 other mismatched, randomly sized, randomly framed posters as tightly as you can fit them. A lot like the internet too. There’s no notion of designing an experience to be lingered upon and relished. I wish they would be, I think they should be.
I’m not suggesting that all of us have the budget to go all the way as you’d see in the most prestigious venues. Never use that as an excuse. What I am suggesting is that you take the notions of curation and presentation seriously, as seriously as the banana and duct tape. I’m also suggesting that you do the best that you can, remembering that the cliché of “less is more” is very much true in many cases where using wall space to pack it all in is almost never the right way to go.
I found an almost unprecedented discussion on these topics by accident last week. I received a newsletter that is a summary of diverse newsletters, a curation if you will. Sometimes I ignore this particular publication because the hit rate of things I’m interested in is extremely low. Last week, the very last excerpt out of seven or eight was a true gem. I urge you to at least take a glance and, if you have the time, read all 3,500 words. Chances to learn things like this rarely come along. Peruse The Anatomy of an Exhibition by Alya before you forget and click off to some other thing today.
Advanced Awagami Printing & Display
Awagami inkjet papers are a specialized medium for producing fine art digital prints. The range runs from subtle matte papers to highly textured dramatic papers. The papers also run the gamut from ultra-thin to extremely thick. The key to utilizing these unique and beautiful materials is matching the paper to a photograph and artistic vision that work in harmony.
This day-and-a-half hands-on workshop will result in two completed mounted Awagami fine art prints on two of Awagami’s most distinctive papers that best represent your artistic intention. More importantly, the experience with the selection, discernment, and realization of other participants’ art will be invaluable as you move forward using Awagami materials for future projects. We start preparations for this workshop before you come with a one-on-one review of images you have in mind for final mounted prints.
Details and registration are on the LPFA website. Take a look. If you have questions shoot us an email or leave a comment. You can also take a look at our first Advanced Awagami workshop.
Great article. I may need to circulate that at my local gallery. We just hung our 22nd annual all photography show last weekend. We have 111 prints hanging in the converted warehouse of an 1880s train depot. It is a fabulous space. I noticed last year’s show was not as good as usual and had really poor presentation with cheap frames and shabby or no mats at all. So we had two free lectures on framing and presentation. I also talked about your favorite topic at monthly meet ups. This year the presentation is vastly improved. I wish you could both see this exhibition.