Cattelan Gold Toilet Destined for Hollywood?
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| Maurizio Cattelan, America, 2016 |
Ripley's Believe It or Not! was revealed as the buyer of Maurizio Cattelan's America (the gold toilet), auctioned for $12.1 million at Sotheby's this Tuesday. A Ripley's spokesperson told The New York Times that it intends to display the toilet at an undisclosed location and is considering "whether visitors may someday be allowed to use it."
Is there any chance it ends up at the Ripley's attraction on Hollywood Boulevard? Ripley's is a global chain with 14 Believe It or Not! branches in the U.S. Most are in midsize tourist towns like Myrtle Beach, Niagara Falls, and Branson, Missouri.
Were there a New York branch, it might have the inside track as a venue for displaying the toilet. But the Times Square Ripley's closed in 2021. That leaves just two Ripley's museums of oddities in big metropolitan areas (L.A. and San Francisco). The L.A. Ripley's appears to be the de facto flagship. With its tourist crowds and media infrastructure Hollywood is the obvious choice.
Ripley's isn't taking much of a gamble on Cattelan's market value. The toilet is made of 100 kilograms of 18-karat gold, worth about $10 million at current prices. Ripley's bid was the first and only at Sotheby's. That implies that no potential buyer believed that America, as an artwork, was worth more than the cost of its materials. Those who take Cattelan to be a talentless Mr. Ripley may feel vindicated. On the other hand, Cattelan's admirers may find the prospect of America's display in a crass tourist attraction to be the ultimate realization of the artwork and its title.
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| Ripley's Believe It or Not! Hollywood |
Comments
> find the prospect of
> America's display in a
> crass tourist attraction
> to be the ultimate realization
> of the artwork and its title.
Art imitating life, life imitating art.
Artwork (eg, in a Louvre or Lucas) imitating tourism, tourism imitating artwork (eg, NYC's economy and special art exhibits at the Met on 5th Ave).
Contemporary art throughout LACMA, particularly in the Resnick: "Even my kid can do that."
Broad compared with a Lucas: "The aesthetics are good but the technical skills are lacking." Lucas compared with a Broad: "The technical skills are good but the aesthetics are lacking."
Forbes, July 21, 2025:
The robot is the star attraction...in Disneyland....There, leaning against the edge of his desk, dressed in his trademark grey suit, is the first-ever Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney.
According to Disney, the sculpt...took WDI seven years to develop, from concept to creation. The designers reportedly even studied muscle structure and nuances of speaking and gesturing so that they could correctly mimic Walt’s mannerisms and movements.
Staggeringly, despite nailing such complex details, the designers failed to hit the spot when it comes to Walt’s most visible and fundamental feature of them all – his face.
The problem was quickly spotted by...a former Disney [designer-engineer]....[He] said "in the company released videos, he seems to be lit rather flat. Lighting plays a big part in creating your impression of how face is shaped."
Perhaps the biggest bone of contention is that the robot lacks Walt’s extremely distinctive almost oval-shaped face. "I think a lot of it is the head shape truthfully. It throws the other features off, Walt’s is a bit more oblong," said Max Taff. Tim Devine added that the “proportions are off. Walt's head was a bit elongated. This model looks squished.”