Nancy Spector may have just won 2018 with an email she sent back in 2017 about a golden loo. Confused? Read on...
The Washington Post has unearthed what they claim is an email exchange between the Guggenheim's chief curator, Nancy Spector, and Donna Hayashi Smith of the White House's Office.
The email details that a request for Van Gogh's 'Landscape With Snow' was put in to be loaned to Donald Trump's private quarters in the White House.
Spector goes on to explain that the famous landscape was unable to be moved to the White House, however, another piece was available.
The available piece in question? 'America' by Maurizio Cattelan which the artist is willing to loan 'long-term'. Oh, and it's a toilet.
'It is a solid, 18k gold toilet that was installed in one of our public restrooms for all to use in a wonderful act of generosity,'she explained, 'The work beautifully channels the history of 20th-century avant-garde art by referencing Marcel Duchamp's famous urinal of 1917.'
And the name of this 'extremely valuable and somewhat fragile' toilet? 'America.'
Now, we don't like to speculate, but we think this offer might be a dig at the sitting (pardon the pun) President.
Cattelan was contacted by the Post, where he said, 'It's a very delicate subject.'
When asked why they offered it to the Trumps, he said, 'What's the point of our life? Everything seems absurd until we die and then it makes sense.'
Totally.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
