A bizarre artwork consisting of a single slice of pickle plucked from a McDonald's cheeseburger and flung onto the ceiling of a New Zealand art gallery has gone viral on the internet. The work, simply titled “Pickle”, belongs to Australian artist Matthew Griffin, who is selling the artwork for a whopping price of NZ$10,000 (Rs 4.93 lakh).
“Pickle” is on display at the Michael Lett Gallery, and it is one of four new works in Fine Arts, Sydney's exhibition in Auckland. The picture of the artwork shared on Instagram shows the pickle clinging to the ceiling with nothing but the assorted sauces and inherent stickiness that it was served with.
Take a look at the artwork below:
“Matthew Griffin, ‘Pickle', 2022 is a sculpture comprising the slice of pickle from a McDonald's cheeseburger flung onto the ceiling,” read the caption of the post.
Since being shared, the image has left the internet amazed. While some called it “genius” and “brilliant”, others called it “moronic”. One user wrote, “This is the best thing I've ever seen ever.” Another added, “stupid and useless.....art is dead.” “Part of a rich late-night tradition,” said third. A fourth jokingly commented, “I got kicked out of a McDonald's by the police for doing this when I was a teenager, now it's art.”
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Speaking to The Guardian, Ryan Moore, the director of Fine Arts, Sydney, which represents Mr Griffin, said, “A humorous response to the work is not invalid – it's OK, because it is funny.” He added that the artwork raises questions about “the way value and meaning is generated between people”. Mr Moore also went on to say that is not bothered about the inevitable question whether Pickle is “art”.
“Generally speaking, artists aren't the ones deciding whether something is art is not – they are the ones who make and do things. Whether something is valuable and meaningful as artwork is the way that we collectively, as a society choose to use it or talk about it,” Moore told the outlet.
“As much as this looks like a pickle attached to the ceiling – and there is no artifice there, that is exactly what it is – there is something in the encounter with that as a sculpture or a sculptural gesture,” he added.
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As per Today, the artwork carries a NZ$10,000 price tag and will cost the buyer another NZ$4.44 for a cheeseburger. The person who buys it will also be given instructions on how to recreate the art in their own space.
