Arte parece, plátano es: An Essay Between Irony and Lucidity

Far from offering closed answers, the essay proposes an open conversation, full of examples and humor, that invites even the reader least familiar with contemporary art to take part.

Cover of the book ‘Arte parece, plátano es’. Laura Revuelta. Taurus, 2025

What turns a banana taped to a wall into a work of art? Perhaps the right question is: what cannot become art in the middle of the 21st century? With this provocation begins ‘Arte parece, plátano es’ (Taurus, 2025), the essay by Laura Revuelta that takes as its starting point ‘Comedian’, the famous piece by Maurizio Cattelan shown in Miami in 2019.

The author, with a long career in criticism and cultural management, delves into twenty-one significant episodes of the current art scene. Her style, at once ironic and precise, invites us to reflect on a system where genius coexists with the absurd, and where the market sets itself up as a silent judge that often eclipses social debate.

‘Comedian’. Maurizio Cattelan, 2019. On Wikipedia

An essay that invites reflection, humor and learning

Revuelta does not write from academic distance, but from the closeness of someone who observes the dilemmas of our time. What distinguishes an artistic object from an everyday one? What role do feminism, queer theory or ecology play in redefining the canon? How do museums and creators respond to the irruption of new technologies, from NFTs to artificial intelligence? Far from offering closed answers, the essay proposes an open conversation, full of examples and humor, that invites even the reader least familiar with contemporary art to take part.

The book works as a journey that swings between laughter and reflection. The mordancy is there. Revuelta pokes fun at phrases such as “my child could do that”, but so too is the will to bring the reader closer to a world where creation feeds on contradictions: the banal against the transcendent, the intimate against the public, the material against the digital.

A guide to finding your way in today’s art world (or trying to)

Laura Revuelta. On RTVE.es

‘Arte parece, plátano es’ does not aim to dictate what one should think about contemporary art. Rather, it offers a compass that helps one navigate a complex and constantly changing territory. In nimble language, Laura Revuelta reminds us that art, beyond the headlines and the market, remains a privileged space in which to question our age.

A book to recommend not only to specialists, but to anyone who, faced with a banana taped to the wall, has wondered: is this art?

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