"A 220-pound, fully functional, solid-gold toilet-once offered to President Donald Trump as a satirical gift-just sold at a Sotheby's auction for $12.1 million. The commode is a work of art called America created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2016. Cattelan is most well-known for his surreal, conversation-starting, and often controversial art concepts, like the 1999 piece La Nona Ora, which depicts a life-size Pope John Paul II getting struck by a meteorite."
"Instead, it was located in the Guggenheim's bathroom, where visitors were allowed five minutes each to, as one New York Post article put it at the time, "crap all over America." In all, more than 100,000 guests lined up to do just that. At the time, the Guggenheim said that the artwork represented the American dream, with "its utility ultimately reminding us of the inescapable physical realities of our shared humanity.""
The work, America, is a 220-pound, fully functional solid-gold toilet created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2016. The piece sold at a Sotheby's auction for $12.1 million. The artist is known for surreal and controversial concepts, including La Nona Ora and Comedian. America debuted in the Guggenheim's bathroom where visitors were allowed limited use, drawing more than 100,000 guests and prompting the museum to describe the work as representing the American dream and shared human physical realities. Cattelan contrasted socioeconomic differences with a blunt remark about equal bodily outcomes. The work later became a high-profile heist target and gained associations with gilded motifs tied to Trump's presidency.
Read at Fast Company
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