A gold toilet, that was made by the same controversial artist who duct-taped a banana to a wall, sold for a staggering $12.1 million at a Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The 223-pound toilet, dubbed “America” by its provocative maker Maurizio Cattelan, is entirely made up of 18-karat gold and had a starting bid of $10 million.
The art, which functions just like a regular toilet and was even installed in Sotheby’s New York headquarters for public viewing before the auction, is intended to satirize excessive wealth in the US, Cattelan explained.
“Whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise,” he said.
Cattelan added that he wanted to put something priceless in “the least noble and most necessary place” to demonstrate the connection between high form and base functionality.
Sotheby’s referred to the gold toilet as an “incisive commentary on the collision of artistic production and commodity value.”
Visitors weren’t permitted to actually use the toilet while it was on display.
“We don’t want people sitting on the art,” Sotheby’s expert David Galperin said.
Some of Cattelan’s previous works include the “Comedian,” which features a banana duct-taped to a wall. It became a pop culture sensation practically overnight and sold for a whopping $6 million.
The artwork had to be replicated multiple times, though, after the banana either grew moldy and expired or was eaten by passersby.
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