Golden Banana

Notes

"There are a few different ideas behind this body of work, masculinity being the most obvious one. When deciding on this project theme I thought about taking an everyday mundane object as inspiration. I find when you try and communicate difficult subjects, using an everyday object makes it easier to convey a message successfully. I’ve always found the use of a banana as a subject interesting. In the fine art field it has been used so many times.

It’s Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ piece that really fascinated me. Not because of the banana, but more the reaction it got from people. Some loved it (me included) and some really hated it, like they almost got cheated out of good art. But sexualizing bananas isn’t exclusive to male artists: the Gorilla Girls used them in a work to form a vulva shape.

The idea of the world "going bananas" at the moment, and the term "banana republic" add more layers to the pieces, giving them a political connotation as well as a sexual one.

What I really like about jewellery is its ability to take the conversation to the viewer, unlike other forms of art that are usually viewed singularly and from a distance, jewellery has the ability to force interaction and conversation between two people."

Statement by Eric Loubser, 2026

Inspired by: Banana by Andy Warhol, 1966. This was used as the album cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico, the debut album of The Velvet Underground; Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan; An artwork by the Guerrilla Girls at Tate Modern; The Uncertainty of the Poet by Giorgio de Chirico, 1913; The Meal by Paul Gauguin, 1891.

The Meal by Paul Gauguin, 1891

The Uncertainty of the Poet by Giorgio de Chirico, 1913

Banana by Andy Warhol, 1966. This was used as the album cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico, the debut album of The Velvet Underground

Banana graffiti in Berlin is the signature work of German artist Thomas Baumgärtel

An artwork by the Guerrilla Girls at Tate Modern

Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan