No matter how much AI grabs the headlines, visual art in its OG form, meaning and sensibility will always create a stir in the human mind. With this aesthetic faith, we note down almost everything that art connoisseurs will associate with 2024.
Monkey around
It was literally just a banana taped to a wall that was supposed to fetch $1.5 million ( ₹12.68 crore) at Sotheby’s auction in November. Instead, the piece went under the hammer for an unimaginable $6.2 million ( ₹ 52.34 crore) and thus the buzz began! This piece by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelano, titled Comedic Actress, has gained unprecedented viral fame since its first appearance at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. Further proof of this is the fact that Chinese billionaire Justin Sun, who made the winning bid, ate a banana during a press conference later because he wanted to “become a part” of history. On a somber note, fruit trader Shah Alam (74) who sold a banana for just 35 cents ( ₹29), considered that the joke was made at his expense.
A royal mess?
In May, the first official portrait of King Charles III since his coronation was unveiled at Buckingham Palace, Great Britain. It featured him in full Welsh Guards uniform, an 8ft 6in x 6ft 6in oil on canvas in shades of red, painted by Jonathan Yeo. It was not well received by many and on social media some described it as a visual representation of the massacres that the colonizers had committed.
The highest awards
London-based Indian artist Anish Kapoor topped Hurun India’s art list again this year. He ranked highest ( ₹79.9 crore) among India’s highest-grossing artists for the sixth consecutive year. The list includes the top 50 living Indian artists by annual sales of their works sold at public auction as of 1 January 2024. The two artists who made significant gains on the list were Paresh Maiti, who entered the top 10 for the first time, and Thota Vaikuntam, who reclaimed the ninth spot.
Everything is fair
The 15th India Art Fair (IAF) held in Delhi in January had the highest number of exhibitors at 109. Among the exhibits was “Falling Bird”, a large-scale painting by the iconic modernist Tieb Mehta in 1999. for the first time in more than two decades. Vadehra Art Gallery sold it for a price matching the auction results, which reportedly fetched more than US$1.8 million. But that’s not all, as 2025 sees the IAF debut in Mumbai!
For the sake of the environment
In January, activists from the environmental group Riposte Alimentaire threw soup at the Mona Lisa. In the Netherlands, three Belgian climate activists targeted Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl with a Pearl Earring in October and went unpunished. In November, several young protesters attacked Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers with tomato soup and were sentenced to two years and 20 months in prison. Is such vandalism of art for the sake of nature acceptable?
Beloved Banksy
At the beginning of August, the works of the elusive street artist Banksy, dedicated to animals, began to appear in London. A mountain goat, two elephants, three monkeys and a howling wolf on a satellite dish are some of the animals that made the list. His work, commonly known as a commentary on socio-political issues, has led many to ponder the meaning of the nine-day series, as well as the mystery of their theft.
Thrown in the trash
American artist Ad Reinhardt once said that “art is too serious to be taken seriously.” Guess what happened when a piece of art was “mistakenly” thrown out by an elevator technician at the LAM museum in the Netherlands in October. This work, titled All the Good Times We Had Together, was created by French artist Alexandre Laveau. He hand painted two empty beer cans. Let’s just assume that a real image of empty beer cans caused all the confusion!
The artist of Indian origin won the Turner Prize
At 38, Jasleen Kaur was the youngest nominee for this year’s 40th anniversary Turner Prize. But she won it along with a cash prize of £25,000! The Scottish artist of Indian origin won the award for her exhibition Alter Altar, which depicts multiplicity, personal and political themes.
For memory
Famous artist Gogi Saroj Pal (79) breathed her last in January this year. Padma Bhushan Ramachandran died in February at the age of 89. In December of this year, Padma Sri Jodhaya Bai (86), known for the tribal art of Baiga from Madhya Pradesh, died after a long illness. But in September, everyone was shocked by the untimely death of street artist Hanif Qureshi at the age of only 41. More recently, the art community in Delhi has been reeling from the news of the loss of art collector and curator Siddhartha Tagore.
