“Royal flush” is usually heard during poker night, but this new museum attraction also fits the bill.
An Italian artist has unveiled his latest masterpiece in the form of a solid 18-karat gold toilet bowl inside the famed Guggenheim museum in New York, USA.
The potty piece, dubbed as “America,” seems like the epitome of textbook toilet humor, but it actually represents the “American dream of opportunity for all,” according to The New York Post.
As it turns out, the working toilet is not just for display and can be used by anyone who pays the price of the museum’s admission.
“America” is installed in a tiny unisex rest room on the gallery’s fourth floor, and can be used by willing visitors while a guard stands sentry outside.
Maurizio Cattelan, the artist behind the unlikely masterpiece, says his work simply represents equality among individuals.
“Whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise,” he said in the report.
Cattelan also described described the piece as a “much-needed breath of fresh air for art lovers who are typically forced to abide by the ‘don’t touch’ rule.”
“Its participatory nature, in which viewers are invited to make use of the fixture individually and privately, allows for an experience of unprecedented intimacy with a work of art,” the museum said.
Guggenheim officials added that the piece also invokes “the American dream of opportunity for all—its utility ultimately reminding us of the inescapable physical realities of our shared humanity.”
Many have wondered about how much it cost to create “America,” but the 55-year-old artist refused to reveal its value and said the golden potty was intended to be “ ‘1 percent’ art for the 99 percent.” Khristian Ibarrola