The World of Art: Boredom and Bananas
How fairs and biennials have trivialized contemporary art. What is needed to revive it? The case of Cattelan's banana.
The defining element of the art world in recent years is undoubtedly boredom. It was particularly noticeable during Covid how the well-being thermometer of this world was marked by the opening or closing of art fairs. For the past few years, contemporary art fairs, both in Italy and abroad, have become little “scattered biennales,” with one taking place every week. Nothing against the market, quite the opposite, but the risk of having to "sow" and "reap" in the same place in just a few days inevitably leads to a trivialization of the offering; especially when galleries that claim to be "contemporary art" have to rely on modern art (from Van Gogh to the 1970s) to stay afloat, and ask younger artists for derivative languages, easy-to-sell things. "Easy-to-sell things" means boring things we’ve already seen, things that no longer surprise us, things without courage. And if you think that anything we put inside an Art Basel booth gains value and thus price, why bother with Quality? This too was one of the many lessons taught to us by Maurizio Cattelan’s banana.
Luca Rossi, "Inside a booth at Art Basel"
There’s an art fair every week, and they now define the art world; you can clearly understand that boredom reigns. You might say, "But there are the Biennales, major exhibitions like Documenta and Manifesta." These too have become chaotic containers, with dozens and dozens of artists who are now similar, predictable, and interchangeable; even in these exhibitions, the offering has flattened just like at the fairs, mainly because the artist's identity matters more than the content's quality. If you're an "Indigenous person from the Amazon," Gender Fluid, part of Afro or African American culture, Feminist, etc., 80% of the time your work will already do great. No one will criticize these contents because we all have to get along, "heaven forbid that curators I’d like to work with get offended"; but also because this world exists in a strong state of marginality in public debate, and there will never be a case like Tony Effe’s, for instance.
Luca Rossi, "Inside a booth at Art Basel"
How to get out of this? By taking artists outside the tracks of immediate economic dependence. In today’s art world, artists should do something entirely different in life and be independent, channeling their passion into contemporary art with courage and determination. A young artist leaving the academy, however, paradoxically, is the most precarious and dependent element of the market, which immediately cheats them, condemning them to extinction in just a few years. A radical reform is needed, where contemporary art should become the “backbone” of any educational or university path: I may be a lawyer, economist, or fruit vendor, but I should have knowledge of a certain artistic alphabet, an awareness of the history of art, and this would allow me to also be an artist but in a truly courageous, determined, effective, and impactful way. In this way, boredom disappears, and perhaps even the contemporary art collector might regain that passion which has long been lost.
Cover image: Luca Rossi, "Inside a booth at Art Basel"
“Luca Rossi” has been described by Fabio Cavallucci as the most interesting artistic personality in Italy, the ‘art world's pain in the ass’ (Nicolas Ballario) and the ‘new Vanessa Beecroft’ (Giacinto Di Pietrantonio). Since 2009, “Luca Rossi,” an open collective, blogger, critic, curator, artist, and controversial figure in the art system, has been trying to stimulate more critical discussion on a daily basis in the field of contemporary art as a subject that could play a fundamental role in our present. From his own critical reflections, very popular in the art world, has descended unconventional artistic planning, popularization and training projects with the creation in 2016 of the “Luca Rossi Art Academy & Coaching.” Some “critical nodes” developed over the years by Luca Rossi (“Evolved Ikea,” “Young Indiana Jones Syndrome” and “Grandparents Parents Foundation,” etc.) have entered the language of Italian art and changed the perspective and vision of many practitioners and others. In 2014, famous art critic Angela Vettese said that since reading Luca Rossi's texts, she has decided to no longer devote herself to art practice but only to theory.
