Banana Research

Researching how artists have previously used the banana within the art world.

Andy Warhol’s cover for the Velvet Underground & Nico’s 1967 debut album

Warhol’s banana became a symbol of subversion in communist Europe, where Czech dissidents including Václav Havel revered the Velvet Underground. The same political monkey business is surely going on in Natalia LL’s video. Called Consumer Art, it has its tongue – as well as a piece of fruit – in its cheek as it equates western capitalism with sexual gratification. Now this cold war art has been censored by the new right.

From <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2019/apr/30/bananas-most-political-fruit-history-art-natalia-ll-censored>

Natalia LL’s 1973 artwork of a model sucking on a banana was removed from an exhibition in Warsaw. I want to highlight the sexual connotations that come with such a phallic shaped object.

In 1990, Sarah Lucas released a self-portrait called Eating a Banana. Within the image she plays with the line between masculinity and femininity around gender roles.

An artwork by the Guerrilla Girls at Tate Modern.

Undone by Angus Fairhurst, 2004, installation view, Tate Britain. Photograph: © The estate of Angus Fairhurst, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Lucas’s friend, the late artist Angus Fairhurst, performed as and sculpted sad slapstick gorillas. He also created a giant black sculpture of a banana. Bananas are sensual, but they quickly decay. No wonder this fruit of sex, death and freedom still has the power to perturb.

From <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2019/apr/30/bananas-most-political-fruit-history-art-natalia-ll-censored>

Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan

The $150,000 Banana

I think this artwork is absolutely genius and a prime example of contemporary art in the 21st Century.

Pulp Fiction bananas - Banksy

Shrink analysis

Thomas Baumgärtel

Since 1983, Baumgärtel has marked the most interesting art locations worldwide with his banana. By now, there are more than 4,000 museums and galleries. His banana can justifiably be called the unofficial logo and seal of quality of the art scene. At the same time, he is an artist with a strong moral sense who uses his works and public space to draw attention to political and social grievances.

From <https://discoveryartfair.com/40-years-of-banana-sprayer/>

Thomas Baumgärtel: Äskulap-Banane aus unserer Rubrik: Post War Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Aquarelle

Jan Svankmejer, Factual conversation (stop motion) is a really good example of playful expression within stopmotion animation. It challenges the boundaries of the norm by using everyday items in unfamiliar and, at times, uncomfortable ways while using repetitive imagery to construct a narrative. I hope to employ my own stop-motion tactics to create a powerful short video narrative.