It’s called art, look it up
A banana taped to a wall isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think ‘art’, but nevertheless, this year’s Miami Art Basel had it all – from faux orgies and Kanye West operas to a sofa stuffed with disused Balenciaga and a storage system for sneakers.
For those of you who couldn’t make the event, which took place December 5-8, we’ve rounded up five of the weirdest pieces on show.
LOURDES LEON TOOK PART IN A FAKE ORGY
To showcase Desigual’s 2020 collection, Barcelona-based artist Carlota Guerrero decided to simulate an orgy. Featuring bodies of all different shapes and sizes, included among the writing limbs was none other than Lourdes Leon. Entitled “Love Different”, the show saw models undress themselves before things turned sexy, as they created a fleshy, writhing organism using just their bodies. Casual.
KANYE COVERED HIMSELF IN SILVER PAINT
Start prepping those memes, because this year’s Art Basel featured Kanye covered head-to-toe in silver paint, as part of his new, Vanessa Beecroft-directed opera Mary. Drawing comparisons to The Wizard of Oz’s Tin Man, a shiny Charizard, and presumably everything in between, shiny Kanye follows the release of the deeply religious record, Jesus is King, so no wonder this look is giving us some serious Big Nativity Energy.
THERE WAS A SOFA MADE OF BALENCIAGA CUT-OFFS
In possibly the most Balenciaga move ever, there now exists an official sofa stuffed with disused clothes left over by the fashion brand. Designed by designer Harry Nuriev, in partnership with Balenciaga, the sofa is meant as a comment on fashion waste. But also, a kitsch inflatable sofa is very en brande.
SOMEONE ATE A $120k BANANA
If you haven’t already heard, a man ate a $120k banana in the name of art. Before we unpack this, here’s some context: the banana, entitled Comedian (2019), was originally exhibited by artist Maurizio Cattelan, and attracted such large crowds that security had to move people on to “avoid anyone getting trampled”.
The banana’s shelf life was cut short, however, when a man removed the fruity artwork from its duct taped chasm and ate it with glee. But the plot thickened as the man in question was revealed to be another artist, David Datuna, who claimed his theft (and subsequent demolition) of the art piece was actually a part of a performance called “Hungry Artist”.
LOUIS VUITTON DEBUTED A SNEAKER TRUNK
Welcome to peak post-capitalism, where sneakers are luxury items and sneaker storage is considered art. Intended as part of its luxury luggage collection, Louis Vuitton’s sneaker trunk is designed specifically to store your most prized trainers, because hypebeasts.