THE GOLDEN THRONE RETURNS
The man who made the world stare at a duct-taped banana and call it art is back — and this time, he wants you to bow to a toilet. Literally.
Italian provocateur Maurizio Cattelan, infamous for the $6.2 million banana that went viral across galleries and memes alike, is now auctioning off a fully functional 18-karat gold toilet titled America.
Price tag? A cool $10 million.
Purpose? None — unless you count it as a mirror reflecting just how ridiculous the art world’s obsession with wealth has become.
THE ART OF MOCKERY
When Cattelan duct-taped a banana to a wall and called it Comedian, the world laughed — then argued, then paid. That was 2019. Now, he’s gone from fruit to flush, pushing satire to its shining extreme.
The 223-pound sculpture will be showcased at Sotheby’s Manhattan headquarters on november 18. Visitors can gawk at it, but can’t use it — because, as Sotheby’s specialist David Galperin put it, “we don’t want people sitting on the art.”
And just like that, the absurdity becomes the point.
THE TOILET THAT REFLECTS US ALL
Cattelan insists America isn’t about opulence — it’s about equality.
“In the end, we are all the same,” he said, “and we remember it right there, in the least noble and most necessary place.”
It’s satire drenched in irony — a golden toilet meant to remind billionaires and beggars alike of a universal truth: everyone sits, everyone flushes, everyone’s human.
But in a world that worships shine over substance, the symbolism might already be lost in the sparkle.
STOLEN, MELTED, IMMORTAL
This isn’t the toilet’s first fame flush.
The original America was installed at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2016, where visitors were actually allowed to use it under supervision. It became an instant sensation, blurring the line between luxury and lunacy.
Then came the Blenheim Palace version in 2019 — and a real-life heist. thieves ripped it out overnight and vanished, likely melting it down for its gold. The priceless piece of art became just… a price.
Now, a private collector who bought it in 2017 is daring the market once more — to see if satire still sells, or if the world has lost its sense of humor entirely.
THE $10 MILLION QUESTION
So what’s the bigger joke — the artist or the audience?
Cattelan’s toilet mocks everything wrong with modern art and everything we keep falling for: inflated egos, inflated prices, and a public that mistakes irony for insight.
Maybe the toilet isn’t the punchline.
Maybe we are.
BOTTOM LINE
The banana made us laugh.
The toilet makes us look in the mirror.
Maurizio Cattelan doesn’t just sell art — he sells a reflection of our collective madness, wrapped in gold and auctioned to the highest bidder.
Because in this world, even satire has a market value.
And right now, it’s worth about $10 million.
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