Why is Scandinavia’s largest international art fair going bananas for Thyra Hilden’s ‘Equal Satire’?

From Paul Gaugin’s "The Meal" to Banksy’s "Pulp Fiction" via Andy Warhol’s legendary cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico’s 1967 debut album, bananas can be found everywhere in works of art.

Both a convenient yet quickly decaying snack and a sensual, sexually suggestive symbol, the fruit has the power to unsettle, titillate and spark vital conversation.

It hit headlines (and Instagram feeds) in 2019 when renowned conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan created "Comedian" at the Art Basel fair in Miami. The Italian artist simply bought a banana and taped it to the wall with duct tape. 

The provocation sparked debate as to the nature and value of art, and by blurring satire and high art, Cattelan spoke to the absurdity of our times.

"Comedian” sold for $120,000 (€114,000) in 2019 and made headlines once again last year when it was resold at auction for a staggering $6.2 million (€5.8 million).

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun outbid six other contenders to acquire the fruit-centred work at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, later eating the banana during a press conference in Hong Kong in a stunt drawing a provocative comparison between the artwork and the world of cryptocurrency. Basically, it’s all about abstract concepts.

Now, a new banana-centric artwork by Danish artist Thyra Hilden has been exhibited at Copenhagen’s Enter Art Fair, Scandinavia’s largest international art fair, as an artistic response to Catellan’s “Comedian”.

More than that, the banana cut open to resemble a vulva – titled “Equal Satire” - has sold for precisely $12,869 (€11, 066).

A bit measly compared to “Comedian”, but that’s the point.  

Even if “Equal Satire” sold for 40,000 times the value of an actual banana and only 10 per cent of its "male counterpart", it represents the fact that only about 10 per cent of the art market turnover at Sotheby’s and Christie’s comes from works created by women. 

“Me and the gallerist have set the price to 10% of the original price of the banana, with the duct tape on the wall, a very famous piece,” said Hilden. “And the 10% comes from that in the big auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's. And so, it's still only 10% of the turnover that goes to female artists.”

Hilden added that she hopes it will “spread humour and spark discussions around equality."

“I have created this work “Equal satire”, where I have cut a very potent figure into something very feminine and created a feminine force. And it's to spread humour, discussion around equality. It’s about opening dialogue on feminine equality in art.”

The buyer of “Equal Satire”, Anders Andersen, founder of the office-share company Ordning, stated that he too hopes the conversation will be on Hilden’s central idea behind the artwork.

“It's not worth paying that much amount for a banana, but when you have taken that discussion, then I hope next level will be that you will start to consider what the artist herself wants to tell with this piece of art," Andersen said.

So, art worth going bananas for. Andersen also said he plans to replace the fruit daily. 

“In practice, it means I will be the biggest importer of bananas in Copenhagen, because I will have to renew this piece of art - or some of my employees will renew this piece of art - every day.”

This is far from the first time that artists have given a feminist spin to the phallic fruit, as The Guerrilla Girls famously used bananas in protest actions to call out male dominance in the art world.

So, kudos to Enter Art Fair and Thyra Hilden for not only laying bare the seemingly arbitrary nature of how value is assigned to objects and asking the question “Who gets to decide the value of art?” but also reminding visitors that the 10 per cent isn’t just a figure confined to the art world.