After Piero Manzoni’s Artist’s Shit, 1961
So I looked down and there it is;
This gross and familiar substance [my shit].
Stands proud in the toilet bowl.
I recall something.
Not what I ate or the burning sensation of my anus;
But the fact that.
Piero Manzoni sold his shit as an artwork;
90 of cans were sold;
He defecated exactly 30 grams in 90 exactly cans.
The last one time was auctioned at Sotheby’s for 12.6 million euros.
Selling one can alone can pay off my student loan.
Weirdly funny but realistically sad.
Rather peculiar I’d say.
Who would imagine selling [that];
Manzoni is essentially the first Belle Delphine;
But without the any deeper meaning behind it.
Just a piss take and make profit to the desperate audience;
To be close to who they admire.
The audience is gross if not dirtier than the excretion itself.
Weirdly powerful if you ask me.
Someone wanting an intimate piece of me.
Weirdly inspiring but gross.
I reflect on his shit and look at mine;
and his and look at mine;
his and back at mine.
Then I flush it and down then come to the realisation.
“Damn my shit can literally be sold for millions.”
Featured photo of artwork by Jens Cederskjold.
