Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has acquired a solid gold toilet, “America,” created by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, for $12.1 million at Sotheby’s auction in New York City. The fully functional toilet is made from over 101 kg of 18-carat gold.
The toilet was part of a limited edition of three, with the first one stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019 and presumed melted down. Ripley’s, known for its oddities and aquariums, plans to display the toilet, but hasn’t decided if guests can use it.
“We’re flush with excitement,” Ripley’s said in an Instagram post. The company’s team is “exploring possibilities” for the toilet’s display and potential use.
David Galperin, Head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s New York, called the toilet Cattelan’s “tour de force”. “Holding both a proverbial and literal mirror to the art world, the work confronts the most uncomfortable questions about art, and the belief systems held sacred to the institutions of the market and the museum,” he said.
The sale is notable, as it’s the second-highest price fetched by a Cattelan piece at auction. His sculpture of a kneeling Hitler sold for $17.2 million in 2016. The gold toilet’s starting bid was determined by its weight in gold, around $10 million.
The toilet was initially installed in a public bathroom at the Guggenheim museum in New York in 2016 and later exhibited at Blenheim Palace. The theft of the first toilet made headlines worldwide, and the perpetrators were later jailed.
Source and Image Courtesy: BBC
